


The Traitor, the Avenger, and the Killer

by CanuckleheadCowgirl, magnetocerebro



Series: The 714 Marvel Universe [12]
Category: Avengers (Comics), X-Men (Comicverse), Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Hope you survive the experience, Welcome to the X-Men, X-Men/Normal lives is the goal, it really shouldn't be this hard, kind of, they're trying so hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-02-11 09:57:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 80,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12932838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanuckleheadCowgirl/pseuds/CanuckleheadCowgirl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnetocerebro/pseuds/magnetocerebro
Summary: Things are starting to look nice and cozy in the X-mansion, which is usually when everything falls apart.Scott has a charming little family that is the envy of all, Logan has the sweetest little girl to ever grace the planet, but not to be outdone, Kurt and Kate are waiting to welcome a sweet little girl (with a tail!) to their family.But that can't be all that happens. It's never that easy for the X-Men and those that they love.Old ties rear their very ugly heads and things get interesting fast.





	1. Chapter 1

With the school year over and summer vacation in full swing, it was no surprise that the mansion was mostly empty. Not only the students but the teachers were taking advantage of the summertime — which had started a bit earlier this year and was already plenty warm — to get in some much-needed rest… and fun, of course.

For Jubilee and Noh, it also meant their second wedding anniversary, and they planned to be gone for a while enjoying the sun and the sand. Noh had promised to take her to "all the best beaches on your planet, according to what I've found in my research."

He'd bought her several new pairs of sunglasses as well as a bright yellow beach hat, a couple swimsuits, and a very cute pink beach wrap in preparation for their trip — and he looked downright pleased when everything fit her perfectly.

For her part, Jubilee had something very different for an anniversary present. She was just… trying to figure out the right time to spring the surprise on him.

The two of them were stretched out on a relatively private beach on one of the Hawaiian islands as Noh simply delighted in rubbing sunscreen into Jubilee's shoulders and back. He didn't burn in the sun, but he seemed to think it was endlessly amusing that "the Terrans own sun is a danger to them — honestly, Jubilee, your Earth is full of dangers."

"Yes, and we like it that way," Jubilee said with a cheeky grin as she batted her eyelashes over her shoulder at him.

"Do you have a preference for the next beach we visit?" he asked her as he wiped the excess sunscreen off his hands onto his towel. "I've been told there is crystal blue water a little west of here — though this beach seems to be already so blue that I fear our next stop may not be able to top it."

Jubilee grinned at him for a second over the top of her sunglasses. "If you have plans, don't let me stop you," she teased, knowing already that Noh would have about five different backup plans to offer her if she even suggested she wanted to go somewhere else.

"My dear Jubilee," he replied with a wide smile to match hers. "I'd be content to simply hide away with you in even the most desolate of places. The locations mean nothing to me — only the company is important."

She leaned over to gently kiss his cheek and then to continue along the line of his jaw. "You always say such nice things," she muttered to him as he grinned that much wider at her.

"It helps that after I learned the dictionary definitions of all your words, I learned the rest from your music — it lends a poetry to your language," he teased lightly. "I think it might have clouded my communication skills, though."

Jubilee laughed and then leaned back for a moment, biting her lip as she looked over her grinning husband. "It's sweet — and I'm sure you'll be teaching all the itty bitties how to write poetry by the time they're three," she teased.

"Oh, at least," he agreed with a solemn tone that didn't match the sparkle of laughter in his expression. "I did promise K that I'd teach little Elin to fly a spacecraft before she could walk — so it seems I'll be busy in my educational efforts if I'm to teach poetry as well."

"Well," Jubes said slowly, her tongue between her teeth for a second as she shrugged one shoulder up to her ear and gave him a very coy smile. "You'll have to teach more than Elin stuff like that."

"Yes, of course. Scott's children and Kate's little girl will be invited to learn anything they like," he agreed, wearing a sideways smirk of his own as he leaned back on his elbows. "But you see ... I must prioritize my little sister."

Jubilee couldn't help but grin at him, shaking her head at how he was completely missing the point before she scooted in a bit closer and snuggled into him. "Yeah, well, you should definitely do that? But you should also start thinking about what you want to teach  _our_ little one," she said pointedly, deciding it would be better to take the direct route when he was clearly too wrapped up in other people's happiness to get her hints.

She thought he might have been stunned into silence, the way he went very still for a long time, and she even giggled a little at the fact that he'd lost his eloquence. But when she looked up at him again, she saw he wasn't even looking at her, instead staring somewhere far off, very still, his mind very obviously elsewhere, and she almost pouted. "Noh?" She waved a hand in front of his face to get his attention, a little annoyed that her announcement wasn't going nearly so well as it had gone in her head, especially when her hand-waving didn't get a response either.

When nothing seemed to be working, Jubilee finally sat up all the way, Indian-style, and waited with her arms crossed for him to come out of whatever it was he was into. She wasn't sure exactly what to call it yet, but every single time it had happened so far, trouble had followed. And she had some serious issues with this creep's timing if it was who she thought it was.

"I am so not amused that this crap keeps happening near our anniversary," she muttered to herself. After a few moments, she let out an irritated noise and dug into her beach bag. She glared his way before she tore open a package of gummy worms and ripped one in half as she waited for him to snap out of it.

When Noh did finally blink back to reality, he gave her a weak sort of smile for a second. "I'm sorry ... I didn't mean to leave you waiting," he said when he saw how her arms were crossed and how she was glaring, grumpily chewing through her candy. "I wasn't expecting…" He shook his head hard and brought a hand to his temple for a second. "Sorry... Rerouting brain patterns," he explained for a moment before he looked back up. "But ... yes. Sorry. You were saying something..."

"What did they want this time?" she asked, completely unamused and not at all in the mood to go back to what she was trying to do. He could wait. The moment was blown anyway, so she had already switched gears to deal with whatever the heck this was — and she would paff whoever was responsible for blowing her moment into orbit by the time she was done.

"I'm not entirely certain," he admitted.

"But you have a fair idea," she said, pulling her shirt over her head.

He let out a very long sigh. "Yes, when the Supremor was insistent that I could not speak to the X-Men about his contact… it is never a good sign."

"Well I guess it's a good thing that I have special privileges then, isn't it?"

"Oh, I still intend to speak to the rest of the team, too," he said, though he was smirking at her. "You, my dear Jubilee, are my wife — and so you will always be the first to know in all matters like this." He offered her a hand as they got to their feet. "Would you please pilot on our way back? It's difficult to continue rerouting while also holding a conversation, much less flying."

"Sure," she replied with a little shrug. "I think I can do that."

"Thank you," he said, genuinely sounding relieved as he took her arm. "We should let the rest of the team know — I don't think they will like whatever plans the Kree have in store." He paused, closing his eyes as he concentrated on the ongoing mental intrusion, before he let out a slow breath. "They have turned their sights toward this planet's affairs again. And as they didn't see fit to try to transport me anywhere? Their plans are coming  _here_  to Earth."

"Oh that sounds  _fabulous_. Are we hosting the cook out then?" she asked with a clearly sarcastic tone. "Is it rude to serve weenies to weenies?"

"Apparently so," he agreed, shaking his head.

"Well be sure to hold Elin when you're talking to Ronan … I'll be on the other side to point K at where she is."

"That sounds entirely dangerous — and likely exactly what we'll need," Noh said, a small smirk playing with the edge of his expression, though when he had absently run his hand over the side of his ship like he usually did when they boarded, he frowned the slightest at the strangely excitable energy running through it.

"Just make sure you tell her about the Kree and how they handle too-small babies where you're from before I let her go," she said with a smirk.

He raised an eyebrow at her for a moment. "And you want  _me_ to be the one holding her after telling her such things?" he teased lightly.

She giggled. "Okay, so … maybe stand back a little bit. Or …  _very quickly_  give her to Logan. And run."

"Running I can do," he laughed as he escorted Jubilee, arm in arm, to the piloting controls, though he did a bit of a double take when he saw that they were slightly different to what they usually were for her — a bit more Kree-based than usual. Still, he hoped that was from having married him and being around him so often, and he didn't say anything about it.

He did, however, have to say something when it seemed that his ship went  _zooming_ off with Jubilee at the controls. "She seems to be responding much more… enthusiastically to you today," he said as he had to hold on a bit tighter than he expected.

"Probably just ready to kick some ungrateful Kree butt," Jubilee said in a bored tone.

"Possibly," he agreed cautiously before he thought better of asking any questions and focused on calling ahead to the mansion to let them know they were coming — and why. "I don't know what the plans are, but I do know they are coming here — at least, that is the most likely explanation," he said over the comms.

"Is it serious enough that we should get the little ones somewhere out of the line of fire?" Scott asked.

"Probably," Noh admitted. "The Kree were quite insistent on my not speaking to the X-Men, and they do in fact know where you are… but the mansion is secure even from Kree. I made sure of that much after ... after the wedding." He let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead. "But yes, it would be safer for them somewhere less-known, I think. Even with the security enhancements."

"We'll start looking at options," Scott said. "Get home fast," he added before the comm clicked off.

Noh sighed over his shoulder at Jubilee, who was still flying the ship at top speeds. "I'm truly sorry our trip has been cut short. Hopefully, this will not take long, and we can resume our celebrations shortly," he told her earnestly as he slid his arms around her shoulders from behind and nestled into her hair.

"I'll hold you to that when we get done with whatever this stupid is," Jubilee said almost out of the corner of her mouth.

With how fast Jubilee was flying, it wasn't long at all before they were nearly to Westchester, though by that time, Noh had gone very quiet. He was focused not only on trying to reroute a continuing psychic attack that seemed to be growing steadily stronger but also on pulling up his star charts and doing a quick sweep for Kree technology to see if he could spot anything in their quadrant.

It took him much longer than usual because his attention was split, but when he got his maps pulled up, he swore several times over in Kree under his breath at the approaching fleet, made up mostly of Accuser ships but also sporting some heavy guns.

"That," he said, as much to Jubilee as to himself, "is an invasion fleet."

"Why am I not surprised?" Jubilee said with a scowl as she looked at what he'd pointed out. "Do we have to be diplomatic?"

"It… would be easier if we could just get them to leave," he said half-distractedly. "They seem to have augmented their technology since last we were there. I very nearly didn't catch their ships' signatures ... I doubt Earth's security even knows they are out there."

"So why are they invading us?" Jubilee said with a worried tone as she half glanced downward, then bit her lip as she frowned deeper. "What do they want?"

"My Jubilee, if I knew, that would be half the battle," Noh said with a very heavy sigh. "They didn't tell me — they only told me to report back home to help the Kree in their efforts on Earth. And I refused." He gestured to his head. "Thus… the battle…"

"I think you better make sure your lawyer is around," she said quietly. "And hope she's feeling diplomatic."

"Agreed," he said, almost absently playing with her hair as he frowned at his charts. "I'll send this information ahead to the X-Men as well as to the Avengers. We'll likely need all the help we can get if they cannot be deterred from invading."

* * *

As soon as the intel from Noh had gotten through to the mansion, the remaining X-Men were already in motion making plans, particularly to get the noncombatants in their midst to safety.

Logan and Scott both had tried to argue with K to stay with the little ones, but the growl they got in response was pretty clear that she thought she would be more useful with them — like it or not. Besides, she had been out of the game for far too long for her tastes, and she was completely healed and ready to fight. So when Kate and Annie promised to take the best care of Elin possible, K glared at the men, waiting for them to challenge her on it.

"You still wanna spar with her, Slim?" Logan said quietly as K helped pack up all that they'd need for the little one and gave her a few last minute cuddles before she handed her off to Kate.

"Not right  _now_ ," Scott replied just as quietly, his own attention half split between Logan and the twins, who were trying to 'help' by unpacking much of what he'd packed.

Annie and Kate were mostly running the quick packing and prep — since they'd be the "adults" in the group for the most part, even if they were taking Tyler with them in case of pregnancy issues. Kate was about halfway through and starting to feel the consequences of a little tail stretching inside her body further than normal babies should be able to reach and pushing on things that shouldn't be pushed on, occasionally making Kate very, very sick. But since Remy had also offered to stay with them in one of his hideaways, he was doing his best to help too. Charlie half clung to his leg and giggled at him as he walked around, loading up the small jet.

"You gon' like dis place,  _petit_ ," he promised her over her half-squealed giggling. "Pretty as a picture, an' close 'nuff to de city dat your mama can get whatever she needs if we stayin' dere for a while."

But while little Charlie seemed content to just play with "Wemy," Chance was  _very_ concerned as he watched his dad talking with Logan. "Daddy go?" he asked Annie with an unmistakable frown.

Annie sighed and looked over at Kate, who was holding a very snuggly, very sleepy Elin. "He does this every time Scott goes on a mission," Annie said, partly in warning, since she knew Chance would get fussy while they were hiding if he couldn't see his dad for too long. "Ever since  _that man_ …"

Kate nodded her quiet understanding. They hadn't had any issues with Sinister for the past couple of months, not since Kurt's father turned some kind of demonic spell on the creepy doctor, but that didn't mean the three weeks that Sinister had Kate, K, Scott, and Charlie hadn't left a mark. Poor Chance had gone into hysterics every time he couldn't see his dad or his sister in the room for about a month after they got everyone back.

But Kate was pretty sure she knew how to deal with this, considering Chance's  _adorable_ baby crush. She slipped over to stand closer to Annie so that Chance could see the very tiny little girl in Kate's arms. "Hey, Chance, you want to help me take care of Elin while her mom is busy?" she asked, and the little boy's eyes got very wide at that.

"No K?" he asked.

Annie shook her head. "No, honey. K's going with Logan and Daddy," she explained.

Chance looked over at K, Scott, and Logan, and he frowned for a second before he reached over very carefully to pat Elin's head with one finger. He never ever touched her with more than the one finger, and he was always very gentle, almost like he was scared to break her because she was so small. "Otay," he said very quietly. "It otay, baby."

Kate and Annie shared a little smile over the top of their respective babies' heads before Remy declared, "Alright. Y'all got everyt'ing you gon' need down there. Let's get to leavin' before de aliens come a callin'."

With that, the group of kids and caretakers shared a quick goodbye with the rest of the team. Tyler got a surprisingly warm hug from Hank that lifted him off the ground, and of course, Scott was peppered with baby kisses as well as a longer kiss from Annie before his family left.

" _Sich vorsehen,_ _Vögelchen_ ," Kurt whispered in Kate's ear before he swept her into a long and lingering kiss that had Charlie giggling when both of them seemed reluctant to be the first to stop the kiss.

When the kiss finally did break, Kate let her hand rest on Kurt's cheek. "I packed a few quivers just to be safe, plus some of Tony's Christmas presents. Anybody wants to get to me or those kids, and they're going to get the full force of a grumpy pregnant lady," she teased.

"I'd prefer you stay safe and avoid fighting altogether," he told her, and she laughed and kissed him again.

"I'll try very hard," she promised him before she readjusted Elin in her arms and followed Annie into the little jet.

"Don' worry," Remy assured the rest of the team as he climbed into the cockpit. "Dis place gon' be perfect. Ain't nobody found it yet 'cept ol' Remy."

They were just about ready to take off when Noh's ship came screeching into the hangar, which of course, delayed the takeoff. Even those who were ready to go were curious to hear what Noh had to report, since he was the one to figure out the invasion in the first place.

So they were disappointed when, instead of a bright greeting or even a declaration of how much trouble they were in, Noh went straight to Scott and pulled up a message for him on a hologram that hovered in the air for the few moments it took Scott to read it before Scott nodded and very quickly, and quietly, pulled the Kree fighter out of the hangar.

"Hey, what's up?" Kate called out, sticking her head out of the jet with a frown as soon as Jubilee was close enough to catch her.

"He's been like that for, like, the past ten minutes — doesn't want to talk to anybody, or let anybody talk to him," Jubilee grumped a bit, her shoulders up to her ears before she let out all her breath at once and looked very obviously frustrated. "Says he doesn't want the Kree to overhear anything they shouldn't."

Kate raised both eyebrows at that but nodded her understanding. "Sorry your trip got cut short," she offered as Logan made his way over with a strange expression on his face. He took a moment to kiss Elin, but he was watching Jubilee carefully.

"Yeah, well, apparently this kind of stuff just  _has_ to happen on our anniversary," Jubilee grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and settling into a bit of a glare. "Stupid jerks with really horrible timing," she added with even more of a bite to her tone than before.

"Yeah, well, give 'em what for from me, huh?" Kate said, making a bit of a face as she gestured down to her protruding stomach. "Since, you know, I  _can't_."

"Perfect timing, Jubes," Logan called out after he said his goodbye to his daughter. "Gumbo and Ty could use an extra set of hands with the girls and Chance."

Jubilee made a face his way for a second, sticking her tongue out and looking like she wanted to argue but wasn't sure where to start.

"Unless you got somethin to say," Logan said with his arms crossed and one eyebrow raised.

She stuck one finger out and pointed it at him. "That… no," she said, though her disappointment was clear to hear.

"You're leading up the backup squad, Jubes," K said confidently. "Unless you got something to say about  _that_." K turned to half glare a threat Logan's way but surprisingly met no resistance.

Jubilee stared between the two of them for a long second before she muttered something under her breath about "freakin' ferals" that only K and Logan caught and then gathered up a smile for Kate and the kids in the jet. "Alright. Then I get to fly copilot," she decided, waving her hand like she was dismissing any further discussion on the subject as she climbed into the jet.

"It's a long flight,  _cher_ ," Remy said when Jubilee climbed in beside him.

"Don't you even start with me, Swamp Rat," Jubilee said warningly.

Remy grinned sideways at her. "Well, if Miss Kate need anyt'ing, you gon' want to help,  _cher_. Dat's what ol' Remy's sayin' is all," he said in a tone that clearly said that was  _not_ all he was saying. Jubilee glared at him until he put the jet in the air for that one, but he didn't stop smirking her way the entire flight out.

With the kids and the others on the way to safety, the rest of the team could focus more fully on the impending invasion — though Noh had pulled Scott aside to ask for help with his own small problem.

He had several little holograms pulled up — one showing his star charts so they could keep track of the impending fleet, and another that he was using to communicate.

"Usually, the Supremor's mental reach is lessened by distance, but this time, my own breeding is making this more difficult," he'd written on the holopromptor. "Most of my technology is psionic, including the nanites in my bloodstream that allow me to heal. And unfortunately, that means I am apparently an excellent receptor for the Supremor's reach, distance notwithstanding."

Scott quietly nodded his understanding before he pulled the hard light hologram a bit closer to write out his response. "But you're still thinking on your own," he pointed out, tipping his head to Noh when he'd finished writing.

"It's an ongoing battle," Noh admitted, writing quickly with a frown settling over his forehead. "I can reroute my neural pathways — that's how I can do a white run and turn off pain receptors — but that is a  _very_  temporary fix." He paused and gave Scott a significant look as he waited for him to finish reading. "My concern is that I have been the one to set up security in your home," he wrote, giving Scott an open shrug when he finished. "And eventually, I will get tired fighting this incursion."

"We can have Rachel help," Scott offered, but Noh shook his head when he read it.

"If it's possible," he wrote, "I think it might be preferable for someone with more technological experience to help." He let out a long sigh when he saw Scott's frown at that. "I would prefer to keep Kree technology out of Tony Stark's hands, but on the other hand, the last time my operating system was this badly compromised, the Vision was able to rewrite it entirely to restore me to my own mind — after the Cube warden had done all he could to corrupt it."

"Rachel can monitor his thoughts to keep him on the level," Scott said.

"And I'll make sure he knows not to act on any of his unruly impulses," K offered quietly. "I can admit I'm feeling a little bit feisty."

Noh let out a bit of a laugh at that and nodded, quickly scribbling out his thanks: "I'd very much appreciate it. Iron Man has been envious of my technology since first we met, and I would not trust him with it if he was left unattended."

"Maybe Rachel can remove his understanding of it after," K suggested.

Noh frowned the slightest bit at that. "I'm not very inclined to alter other people's minds and memories," he wrote. "Let him learn from the nanites in my bloodstream if that is the price to pay for not giving the Kree Empire the keys to our home. Perhaps it would even be helpful later should I have any other problems with my operating system." He grinned ruefully. "I may be an organic being, but I am still programmable — I was engineered and bred that way."

"I'll keep that in mind, moonbeams," K replied with an easy smirk.

"I'll talk to Stark and have him come here," Scott said.

"Tell him to bring my new toys," K said.

"I doubt he'd come here without it if it's done," Scott pointed out with a little smirk. "In the meantime, K, why don't you keep an eye on Noh in case something happens before Stark gets here?"

"Sure thing. If he goes goofy, I'll just hit him to see if I can reset. Attorney privilege."

"Hopefully, that won't be necessary," Noh said with an expression that clearly read he would like  _not_ to be hit.

K smiled and took his arm and dragged him to the kitchen. No reason they couldn't prep where there was light and coffee.

* * *

Translations from German:

" _Sich vorsehen,_ _Vögelchen_ ," - Take care/be careful, little bird.


	2. Shut Up And Let Us Conquer You

When Tony arrived, it was with Steve and Clint, who didn't leave the Quinjet but waited for Scott and K to join them so they could get moving.

"Why not Logan on this run?" Steve asked as the two mutants climbed on board.

"She's … amazingly good at working around Ronan," Scott replied. "And she can tell us if he's lying without knowing the laws. It's like some kind of hidden talent."

Clint grinned at her sideways. "Could've used you about ten years ago when I was making really stupid dating decisions," he teased. His body language was open, but it was obvious from the fact that he had an arrow in one hand that he was itching for a fight with some Kree. In fact, the whole Quinjet was filled with the scents of anticipation.

"You wouldn't have listened to me," K replied with a smirk.

"Yeah, that's probably true," Clint said with a little shrug.

"So, they get to do all the solidarity, and we get to do the hard work and look pretty?" K asked, gesturing to Scott and Steve.

Clint laughed. "That's the idea," he said. "We let Cap and Cyclops play nice, and then you and I shoot 'em when they very predictably don't play nice back."

"If it comes down to it, I want Ronan. He pissed me off the last time we crossed paths, and … I'm kinda in the mood to fight." K said with a smirk. "You know. If he's around. And overly stupid."

"We'll see what happens," Steve said, his tone more conciliatory than the rest of the group at the moment. "Right now, all we know is we're meeting with one of the Accusers. The fact that they agreed to meet with us at all might be a good sign."

"Unless they're expecting a surrender," she pointed out.

"Well that ain't gonna happen," Clint said easily. "You think they'd have figured that out by now, seeing as it's not like this is their first rodeo on Earth."

"Well, some aliens never learn their lessons." K leaned forward so she was speaking over Steve's shoulder. "If he declares war, are you going to weep if I stab him in the face?"

"K, I don't make it a point to weep over enemy soldiers that have it coming in a war," Steve pointed out.

"Oh good," K said brightly. "I promise I won't give away my intentions with needless growls and claws out. You know. Until there's already trouble."

"Let's just see how this goes," Scott suggested, shaking his head at her.

"I already touched up my makeup," K said his way. "If they declare war, it's not going to be because I didn't look my best and smile before I stab."

"Well at least someone looks nice," Clint teased. "I just ran a brush through my hair and grabbed a breath mint."

"Thank God for the small details," K shot back. "It's okay if you look slightly rogueish."

"Slightly?" Clint looked offended. "I'll have you know I work hard on my ruggedly good looks."

"Well, you did run a brush through your hair," she teased.

He grinned at her as he settled back into co-piloting them up to the Accuser's ship. "Well, I guess that was my mistake, wasn't it?"

"It suits you," she said as she leaned back in her chair.

"Nat likes it," he said shamelessly. "Just so she can mess it up again."

"That's half the fun," K agreed.

"Didn't realize you two were admitting you were onto the messing-up-hair stage," Scott said with a small smirk. "I thought there were still official denials being put out at every turn."

"Me? Nah. Her? Well. We're working on that," Clint said, chuckling. "She's private. And doesn't want to admit Logan was right. Yet."

K flashed him a wicked smile. "Well God forbid that you end up like we did. You'll have Kurt crawling up your back with a flashlight and guilt tripping you into next week."

"Maybe that's why Jess didn't tell anyone Gerry was mine," Clint said with a passing frown before he returned to his usual smirk. "No one wants to get stuck with me."

"That's not it," K said, shaking her head. "No way." But she refused to elaborate for him, and Clint wasn't exactly in the mood to discuss his ex and his baby boy at the moment — even if they were clearly trying to keep up the relaxed mood headed up to the rendezvous point.

The light teasing continued all the way up until they reached the Kree fleet, when the mood got a little more official and serious — at least outwardly. The two Accusers that arrived on the Quinjet a few moments later looked as ramrod straight-backed and serious as Steve and Scott both did, though K and Scott both recognized Sinta as one of their guests. Apparently, the Kree had decided to try and send a relatively friendly face to soften them up, and they were hoping that someone they'd fought alongside in pushing back the Shi'ar would fit the bill.

"It's an honor to see you again," Sinta said in greeting when he clasped hands with Scott, though the Accuser who shook Steve's hand didn't offer any such niceties.

K had elected to stand to the side of Steve and back a bit, and Clint had taken up a similar position near Scott as the two of them watched the Accusers carefully. They weren't the ones doing the negotiating, but even their positions spoke volumes — each of the seconds looking out for the leaders of the other teams. It was a silent show of unity and force, and one that the Kree had surely picked up on, if they were paying any attention, that is.

"Why did you come here with a whole invasion fleet?" Scott asked Sinta, since he seemed to be a bit more willing to talk. "I thought after we helped out on Hala—"

"No, you misunderstand," Sinta said, shaking his head and holding up one hand before Scott could get any further. "We are returning the favor. Helping to keep the Shi'ar from your planet as well."

"When do they plan to attack?" Steve asked with a serious frown. "We had no intel that said they were preparing for conquest. At least, SWORD said nothing of the sort."

"Our fleet should have arrived weeks ahead of them," Sinta said, turning toward Steve. "And we have agents slowing their plans — but I assure you, they  _are_ coming."

"Then again — why the invasion fleet and not a fleet of defenses?" Scott said though he'd already gotten a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew he had to hear it confirmed. He glanced toward Steve, who seemed to have come to the same conclusion, and Clint's arm flexed the slightest, though K kept that same relaxed, open expression she'd had from the get-go.

The second Accuser finally turned his gaze on Scott to answer. "The fleet of defenses will come after we have established this planet as a base for our operations. You are woefully unprepared for the coming Shi'ar invasion, and as the Kree Empire has vested interests on this rock, we are here to ensure the planet stays untouched by the enemies of the Empire."

"You expect us to surrender," Steve said through gritted teeth.

"We expect you to accept our help and defenses," the Accuser replied easily.

"You expect us to roll over and be conquered," K said softly, with an almost sing-song tone. "That's not very gentlemanly. For allies."

"This strategically important defense cannot be left to you Terrans," the Accuser said, waving his hand at her, which only had K bristling, though she kept her reaction in check, as promised.

She delicately stepped around Steve with a horrified look on her face and managed a shocked tone. "I'm not sure I understand … you're telling me we need you to protect us?" She was holding one hand over her heart, and Scott could see where it was headed, even if the two Accusers clearly didn't know that she was just gearing up to tear into them. "What happens once the Shi'ar leave with their tails between their legs? What happens to Earth then? Will you leave us in peace or scuff up the furniture?"

The accuser smirked at her for a second, doing his best to look magnanimous. "There will be other attempts to conquer Earth. The Shi'ar, the Skrulls — with the planet under the protection of the Empire, you needn't concern yourself with them."

"So you  _are_  looking for more than an embassy," K said with her shoulders drawn up as she very slowly approached him, looking tiny and non-threatening, which certainly seemed to be doing the job, since the Accuser that had laid out how he expected it to go certainly saw no danger in her approach. "If we refuse, then what?"

"We only mean to help," Sinta spoke up.

K turned his way, that same open, approachable expression on her face. "And I'm trying to understand. Please. We're not trying to escalate any conflict. We're here as representatives, and we feel as if we deserve to know your intentions with our planet. In any outcome."

"You'll be allowed to continue on as you ever had under the Empire," the second Accuser said, as if this was entirely reasonable.

K stopped all motion to the point that she didn't look like she was even breathing before she frowned deeply and turned her head slowly toward him. "You're lying to me." She looked him up and down slowly. "We've done  _nothing_ to earn lies if your intentions are honorable."

"There will only be problems should you resist our establishing the new Kree capitol," the Accuser said with his eyes flashing.

"Are you threatening war?" Steve asked flatly, knowing now without a doubt that he was setting the guy up for a hard fall.

"It's no threat," the Accuser returned. "If you resist, it  _will_ be war. You are just too blind to see it."

"Hawkeye … did he... " K turned to him, now moving much more like she did when she was ready to strike. "Pompous alien jackass," she muttered before she darted forward and popped her claws as her arm sliced through the air — blinding the Accuser as she gouged both eyes out and left three deep slashes across the bridge of his nose. "We came here hoping you weren't going to be stupid."

The blinded Accuser tried to strike back as Sinta also drew his weapon, though that was quickly shot out of his hand by the resident Hawkeye. "Yeah, don't piss her off more," he said. "Friendly advice."

"We only need one to interrogate," K growled out. "Which one of you two blue idiots is higher ranking?" But when the first sign of incoming enemy birds showed up in the distance, K cut the more arrogant guy down in a few slashes before she crossed over to Sinta. "You'll have to do — unless you want to end up like him?"

Despite looking definitely a bit disturbed at what had happened, Sinta settled into a bit of a glare. "We are  _trying_ to protect you. There's no need for this reaction," he half shouted, sounding nearly insulted.

" _We can protect ourselves_ ," K snarled out inches from his face. "You  _know_ that, since we saved your sorry blue asses on your own frikkin' planet. Now march. If we have to carry you, it's going to be because you have no legs."

.

"This is her being nice," Clint said over the guy's shoulder, clearly enjoying being her sidekick in this regard. He had a hand on each of Sinta's arms to keep him from doing anything stupid — and in his own way, he was actually trying to keep the peace by keeping Sinta from making this any worse for himself. "So play nice. I'm full of friendly advice today, apparently."

"You'll want to relieve him of this," Scott said with a small smirk as he plucked some of Sinta's Accuser weapons. "Noh showed me how to disable these. Shouldn't be too hard."

K looked at the Accuser with a clear snarl on her lips. "Ground rules then," K said. "If you reach for anything without my expressed,  _written_  permission, I'm going to cut your hands off."

"You are making a mistake," Sinta said with narrowed eyes — though K noted that he didn't reach for anything all the same.

"Our only mistake that I've seen so far was not letting the Shi'ar overrun you on Hala," K growled out low.

Despite the situation, Sinta let out a bark of a laugh at that. "Then you would only be dealing with the Shi'ar invasion sooner."

"Pretty sure I'm getting well-versed in killing aliens," she replied. "But you — you're going to be the one to show me how to make them hurt the most."

"I'll not betray the Empire," he replied, meeting her gaze.

"Please don't," she said. "If you did, I'd have to stop and I'm all about learning today." She turned to look at Clint for a moment. "Been a while since I've had a challenge. But I'm getting ideas already."

"Well, let's get you home so you can share with the class," Clint suggested, purely to get Sinta squirming. He was playing a strange sort of good cop routine, dropping hints to the Accuser on how much trouble he was in to give him plenty of opportunities to backpedal, but the guy clearly wasn't taking any of those hints.

Scott looked like he wanted to try and… stop this somehow, but at that point, the Kree ships seemed to have decided the two Accusers were taking too long to report back in and started to head for the Quinjet. And with Clint occupied helping K with Sinta — Scott had to quickly turn his attention elsewhere. He slid in to pilot them away from the now very annoyed invasion fleet before the first shots were fired over their bow, barely missing them.

"I guess that ends negotiations," Steve muttered out as he settled in next to Scott.

"They never planned to negotiate," Scott said with a frown. "They actually expected us to just ... go along with them."

"You'd think they'd have learned better by now," Steve said with a clear tone of disapproval. He let out a sigh. "We'd better let the others know — as of right now, the Kree have declared war."

"You handle Fury; I'll tell Logan," Scott said.

"Nice of you to take the hard job for yourself," Steve said with a smirk.

"He's going to want to hear from me that his wife didn't start it," Scott chuckled. "She's been a little bit … mean."

"And here I thought we were taking the nicer one with us," Steve muttered.

Scott just laughed at that. "Yeah, even  _not_ in the mood she's in, I could have told you that was still wrong. K was only hoping for a different Accuser. This guy — he's actually been decent. As far as Accusers go."

"I wouldn't have guessed as much, except that she didn't kill this one," Steve replied dryly.

"I would have kept the other one, but he pushed my buttons," K said as she tossed her hair over her shoulder from where she was finishing up tying Sinta up so that he wouldn't be able to escape. "Blind. Pfft."

"He did ask for that one," Clint pointed out. "It was like an invitation." K grinned at him outright, and Scott and Steve shared a look between them of resignation. And a little amusement.

On landing, K wasted no time in directing Clint to take their prisoner down to the Danger Room, where K insisted it would be easiest to clean up later. She was clearly running a list through her head when a few of the gathered Avengers and X-Men came to ask what was going on.

"They declared war, I'm looking for answers," K replied as she gave Logan a little kiss. "Don't know how long this guy will last, but he seems to think he can hack it." She looked to where Clint had disappeared to make sure Sinta was secure and gave Logan a smile. "Make the plan a good one. I don't think we're going to be able to have too much in the line of second shots here."

"I'll help you," he replied, turning to follow her, but K stopped and put both hands on his chest.

"No you won't," she replied. "I'm taking Natasha with me, and Clint's already there. That's more than enough. Besides," she said before she gave him a bit more involved kiss. "You don't need to see this." She gave him a wicked smirk that he halfway returned, and then she all but skipped down the hall to get down to work.

Steve had his arms crossed over his chest as he raised his eyebrows and leaned over to Scott. "Did she just… try to protect Wolverine's  _innocence_?"

Scott shook his head with a barely suppressed expression of amusement. "Yes, she did," he said simply.

Steve looked all that more disbelieving before he broke into a bit of a laugh and shook his head. "Alright then," he said before he took a breath, straightened his shoulders, and turned back to Scott, outright ignoring the rest of what had happened in favor of focusing on the much bigger and more important problem at hand. "Come on — we've got an invasion to prep for."

* * *

While the small little "diplomatic" mission had been going on, Tony and Rachel slid into Hank's lab to help Noh with his Supreme Intelligence problem.

Tony had brought plenty of his own tech with him and looked a little put-out over the setting. "If we were back in my labs, this would go so much faster and easier," Tony said with something that definitely seemed like a pout.

Noh tipped his head at Tony with a raised-eyebrow look. "And you would likely have all the secrets of my homeworld in a moment," he pointed out, though his voice sounded slightly strained. "I'm afraid you will have to make due with the assortment of Kree, Shi'ar, and human technology you see before you — and whatever else it is you have decided to bring."

Tony smirked a bit wider at that as he started to unload various instruments. "Nanotech is always fun to play with," he said, mostly to Rachel as Noh simply closed his eyes and steeled himself for the upcoming rewriting of his internal code. "It's always unique to the individual creator, too — everybody puts their own spin on it."

Rachel sat down on a chair nearby and watched Tony for a second with her head tipped to one side. "You're not here to study the differences in approaches," she reminded him. "You're here to make sure the Kree don't overrun our friend's mind."

Tony shot her a little grin and a shrug with his palms turned out and opened up. "Hey, I know how to prioritize. But cut me a little slack — this is the first time he's let me play with any of his extradimensional toys."

"Please do try to contain yourself," Noh said dryly, his eyes still closed and one hand pressed to his forehead.

Tony looked over at the former Marvel Boy and lost a bit of the grin when he saw the obvious body language signals that Noh was struggling before he pulled out some of his scanning devices. "Don't you worry, Marvel Boy, we'll have you up and running in no time."

"Preferably for the correct team, if you can," Noh tried to joke lightly, totally unable to hide his little smirk. Rachel had to roll her eyes at him when he looked so obviously proud of his own joke, moreso when Stark stopped and stared at him with a growing smile.

Finally, Tony shrugged and grinned at him. "Hey, give me enough time, and I'll even upgrade your performance in other areas if you want," he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, though he was looking past Noh at Rachel, who was rolling her eyes  _so hard_.

"Just… please get them out of my head," Noh said, sounding a bit weary.

Tony got down to work after that, scanning the nanites in Noh's bloodstream as he leaned over the readouts that his instruments were showing him, occasionally pulling at his goatee with little "hmm"s, though the more he read, the more he seemed to hem and haw and look a little disappointed.

"Something wrong?" Rachel asked mildly, though she was definitely smirking his way.

"Hard to replicate this kind of thing," Tony explained, tapping the readout with clear disappointment in his voice.

"Come on, Tony. I've heard rumors about performance issues," K muttered as she came in, drying her hands off on a towel. "Don't let me down now."

Tony spun slightly on the heel of his foot when he heard her come in and then broke into a wide grin. "Oh, nothing like that," he assured her with a playful wink. "It's just that — well, I'm not sure anybody  _wants_ to replicate this kind of stuff," he admitted, gesturing at his readouts. "It's pretty well ingratiated in his biology."

"So? Don't try to replicate it," K said as she came to a stop next to him. "Just fix it."

"That's the plan, sweetheart," he said, waving one hand at her as he turned back to his instruments. "The plan is  _also_ to keep him alive, though, so, you know, I have to navigate this incredibly symbiotic relationship here." He let out a bit of a chuckle. "No wonder half his tech is so  _emotional_."

"I'll leave my commentaries on your tech just hanging in the wind for a moment," K told him with a smirk. "But I should let you know — I'm here to keep you honest. And I'm all warmed up."

"Lucky whoever it was," Tony replied. "Got you all hot and bothered."

"Not really," K laughed. "I got Natasha to step back from the interrogation for a few minutes."

"You got  _Widow_ backing off?" Tony turned his full attention from his tech for a second as he looked entirely flabbergasted, moving with his whole body to show how absolutely floored he was.

She tipped her chin back toward his work. "Don't lose your place now," she warned before she shot Noh a wink.

"Then maybe don't be so distracting," he teased, though he had his attention back on the job as he started to pull out a few other toys, muttering to himself a bit as he did so.

"Who were you interrogating?" Noh asked curiously. "That seems to imply there was a fight — and prisoners to be interrogated in the first place."

She smiled sweetly at him. "Don't worry your sparkly little head about it right now," she told him. "He did most of the touching himself."

"Then I take it there were no real negotiations," Noh surmised, sounding a bit disappointed.

K sighed. "You honestly didn't think there would be, did you?"

"I had hoped," he admitted. "I don't like fighting my own people, arrogant and ignorant as they are."

"My darling boy, they're not strictly your people anymore," K told him. "You chose your people — and they try to use this against you every time they turn around." She gave Stark a significant look, then glanced toward Rachel to be sure the message was relayed properly back to the Kree who were so obviously listening in on Noh's conversation.

"I am trying to remedy their ability to use it against me," Noh pointed out, gesturing to the readouts and tech Tony was sifting through.

"Just relax and let Big Bad Tony have his wicked way with you," K said. "It shouldn't take too long."

"When you put it like that, I don't know that I feel particularly inclined to relax," Noh said with a small frown that had Tony chuckling K's way.

"Rumor on the street is that he's very good with his hands," K said with a laugh.

"And after this is over, maybe I'll prove the rumors right," Tony said, grinning.

"Only if you want to lose them," Rachel muttered.

Tony gave her an even wider, more brilliant smile. "Say that now — but I haven't even started to be amazing yet."

"Maybe you should quit talking and get down to business then," K told him. "If you're busy talking, you're wasting energy best spent on other things."

"I think you'll find nothing I do is wasteful," Tony said out of the corner of his mouth as he was all but gliding through his work now, clearly enjoying the chance to show off and perform.

"So many promises," K tutted.

"Well if I tried anything else, I'd lose my hands, I've been reliably informed," Tony said with a little laugh.

"That ... is highly likely," K admitted. "But I like to see you  _try_ all the same."

"Now who's making promises?" Tony teased over his shoulder as he took a second to motion for Noh to sit back and he got the program started for rewriting the underlying systems.

"I said I like to see  _you_ try. You're really not ready for me."

"I've been told I'm pretty advanced," Tony said with a shrug.

"I like to break healing factors for fun and sport."

"Good thing I don't have one of those for you to break — we'll have to find something else to play with."

"I'm always up to listen to offers, but … hard to beat what I've got to play with now."

Noh leaned back and closed his eyes with a sigh. "If you could please hurry through and begin the rebooting so I can be blissfully unaware for a few moments of this… travesty," Noh requested of Tony, who was outright chuckling at him now.

"I think he's jealous," K whispered to Tony. "You should give him all of your attention so he doesn't feel so lonely. And exposed. You know how the young ones are."

"Got a bit of a right to feel exposed, actually," Tony said with a little grin as he stepped slightly to one side so he could gesture at his readouts. "Technically, I have his every thought right in front of me, if I wanted to decode it."

"Just stick to the list, Hot Lips, and we'll be just fine."

"Well at least you gave me a competent nickname. I'd hate to be Burns," Tony joked, as Noh looked very grateful to be slipping into unconsciousness with the reboot.

"I'm partial to Colonel Potter myself," she said with a smirk.

"Not Radar? Hawkeye told me about that one," Tony laughed, not even looking her way. He was in full repair mode, sifting through the code in front of him — but the joking was almost operating on automatic pilot at that point.

"That's her take on it," K replied, the atmosphere much more jovial and less flirty now that Tony was on a roll. "Trying desperately to call him a teddy bear somehow turned into teasing him about needing one."

"Yeah, I still don't understand that joke," Tony replied over his shoulder. "What's the draw? He's not exactly stuffed and cuddly."

"My sweet sweet Tony, you are in the zone, and I'm not going to answer that question and wreck it," she told him frankly before she gave his arm a little squeeze.

"I'm insulted you think my ego is that frail," he joked before he got distracted halfway through his teasing grin and started to mutter at a few lines of code before he got whatever it was sorted out and picked the grin right back up where he'd left it.

"Music?" K asked, watching him carefully.

"Not too far off," he said. "Same principle for some of this… Pretty advanced interconnected neural receivers being mimicked by nanite transmitters…" He was clearly grinning at the readouts. "You know, I could use some of this. It'd have to be divorced from the microbiological components, but the rerouting structure itself is sound…" He looked back at K for a second. "And if you've got anything here that isn't whatever Hank plays in this lab, go for it."

"I know what you like, Tony," she replied easily before she turned to set him up with his preferred tunes and put on a pot of coffee.

"Hope you don't just mean music-wise," he called back to her with a widening smirk, which only got wider as the music started up in the lab and he seemed to  _really_ get in the zone.

Now music and caffeine-fueled and showing off for two women, it was really more of a miracle that Tony wasn't trying to 'upgrade' Noh than it was a miracle how fast he was done, and when the former Marvel Boy woke up from his rebooting system, he took a deep breath and stretched out his limbs before settling into a bit of a cross-legged position to quickly look through his mental pathways for what Tony had done — just to be sure.

But when he didn't find anything too incredibly different, just several strengthened neural pathways that would help him keep his system from getting compromised again, he peeked one eye open and looked toward K. "Well ... it seems I can in fact trust you not to go overboard like a kid in a store full of candy," he said, addressing Tony but grinning at K.

"Sparkle pants, you know I won't let him go crazy with his fingers in your sweets," K told him before she raised her mug toward him. "But if you get stupid on me, I'm going to force Tony to fix a few more things in that pretty little head of yours. And he'll let me force him — won't you Tony?"

"Well, you can always  _try_ ," Tony teased. "I try not to be  _too_ easy."

"Didn't say I'd make it easy on you," she countered.

"Oh for Plex's sake, I'm glad I was unconscious. Has this been going on the whole time?" Noh asked.

"No, they waited for you to pass out before they stopped," Rachel said with a little laugh. "I guess they like an audience for their flirting too."

"I'm not shy," K said with a grin before she gave Tony a quick peck on the cheek and set her mug down. "Come on, Noh — do you think we can trust you again?"

"I'd like to think you can always trust  _me_ , just not my systems, on occasion," Noh said with a light shrug. "But thankfully, we seem to be in sync again, so the answer is yes on both accounts." He looked around the room and blinked twice before he asked, "Are we going to meet up with the others? I really should apologize to Jubilee."

"Jubes is in a safe place helping to take care of Elin, Kate, Annie, and the kids," K replied. "They have Gambit and Tyler joining them."

Noh looked disappointed for all of a second before he slid to his feet. "Then let's join the others in making sure this invasion is short-lived. You and I have loved ones to get back to."

"About that…. You weren't particularly close to Sinta, were you?" K asked. "He's not dead, but I'm reasonably sure he wishes he was."

Noh looked honestly surprised for a moment before he let out a breath. "I wish there were more Accusers like him, but ... I don't make it a point to become too close to those who once wished my execution."

"And ... what are the chances that the big guy in charge is going to come out to play now? YOu know, since we took one of his buddies prisoner and killed another — left him to be found."

Noh raised an eyebrow at her and shook his head. "You do like to provoke people, don't you?" he asked with a teasing grin before he shrugged. "If Ronan feels he has an advantage, believe me — he will be here."

"Well. I can only assume he'll lead from behind," K muttered.

"We'll just have to show him differently," Noh said as he, K, Tony, and Rachel left the lab and headed up to join the others, who were already prepping for the invasion.


	3. Clint, Natasha - This Is Not A Date

While Tony had been 'reprogramming' Noh to keep him out of the Kree's hands, Natasha and Clint had been relaying what they'd learned from K working on Sinta (and, occasionally, from Natasha helping enthusiastically) to Nick Fury. The Kree simply had too many tactical targets for the Avengers and X-Men to defend at once — and with the size of the fleet they were facing, they were going to need all the help they could get.

After they got done relaying the information to Fury, Clint wanted to be sure to check in with the Avengers back at the tower, and Natasha had to smirk at him. She knew he was mostly worried about the younger members of their team, and the fact that he opened up the communications by asking Kamala how she was holding up certainly confirmed her suspicions.

"We're fine — Thor just took Billy and Teddy to do some aerial fighting," Kamala reported. "Just about anybody who can fly is headed toward the sky," she added, sounding a little bit starstruck. "If you look outside the windows, you can actually see it. It's kinda freaky."

"Typical alien invasion stuff then," Clint said with a shrug. "You guys get into any trouble, you call us, got it?"

"Yeah,  _Dad_ ," Miles broke in over Kamala's shoulder, and Clint rolled his eyes at him.

"I'm serious, kiddo — these invasion things tend to suck," Clint said, and the fact that there wasn't any teasing in his tone got both of the younger Avengers to be a bit quieter and quickly agree to call him if there were any problems.

"You really are such an overbearing father," Natasha teased lightly, bumping his shoulder with hers. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you had adopted them both."

"Like they need  _me_  for a parent," Clint replied, shaking his head, and Natasha laughed at him.

The two of them had just finished making sure that Sinta was well secured and couldn't go anywhere — not that he had much energy to try at the moment — when they met up with Noh and the others headed over to meet up with the other heroes. They shared quick nods between them before they made it to where the rest of Earth's protectors were already moving out, under the direction of both Steve and Scott.

With the addition of the intel from Sinta, both team leaders made quick assignments — strategic targets that needed protecting — before they split off, in a hurry to run with their new intelligence.

Neither Clint nor Natasha was surprised when Steve sent them off together to a location Fury had suggested to him — apparently, some things never changed, and there were still secret bases to be guarded. Or secret prisons, as the case might be.

They were both familiar with the concept of the Cube — a prison that was supposed to be for extraterrestrial terrorists and criminals, even if that had not been the case leading up to the  _last_ big alien invasion of Earth. But seeing as Fury had put Hill in there at Noh's request, the thing was back up and running the way it was supposed to, more or less — and the last thing anybody wanted was for the Kree to be able to get to a prison full of possibly sympathetic alien prisoners.

Not everybody in the Cube was Kree, of course, but there were enough of them that it was a strategic target, especially considering the Kree creed that each and every one of their citizens would be protected and avenged if wronged.

"Almost want to pay the old assistant director a visit when we're done here," Clint said as he set the Quinjet down at the hangar and a few SHIELD personnel came to greet them and update them on the situation — not that they needed it spelled out, when they could actually  _see_ the Kree ships headed their way.

"If you're feeling sentimental, we can even try to kill Tony later," Natasha replied with a little smirk that had Clint laughing outright.

"I'm sure Tony would appreciate the joke," Clint said, still laughing.

"If he doesn't, I'll be sure to explain it to him," she replied, the smirk widening, though she stowed it when the SHIELD agents arrived to give them an update on the situation.

"We've tried to hail them a few times, but they won't respond to anything — in any language," one of the agents explained.

"The only message they're broadcasting is that they've already shot down a SWORD craft, so we should go right ahead and surrender," added another agent, who looked personally insulted that the Kree thought she was going to do anything like that.

At that, Clint and Natasha shared a glance and a nod. "I'll want to see your lockdown protocols," Natasha told the second agent. "As well as your weapons and tracking equipment."

The agent nodded quickly and led Natasha inside as the first agent turned to Clint with an expectant look.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna stay out here," Clint told him, shrugging lightly. "They're gonna have to break  _in_ first, and that means I can make their lives pretty miserable while they're trying to do that. You're welcome to bring some backup if you think it'd make you feel better having guys out here with me."

The agent tipped his head Clint's way for a second before he nodded once. "Anybody who isn't manning any weapons already can join either you or the Black Widow on the defenses," he offered.

"Pretty sure that's what I just said," Clint deadpanned. "C'mon — we don't have all day," he added, gesturing toward the fast incoming ship.

The young agent scurried off to go get some reinforcements, and by the time the Kree ship was in range of the SHIELD weapons, they were about as prepared as it was possible for them to be, considering the short notice and the circumstances.

The first thing that the Kree did was fire some kind of energy weapon at the facility, and the spread of their firing pattern told Clint that they weren't trying to destroy the place but to weaken the defenses.

"I hate alien invasions," Clint muttered to himself as the roof of the facility shook beneath his feet, and he had to steady himself against the nearest wall. The Kree ship had scored some good hits, but as he watched, some kind of energy beam came from the Cube, and he had to grin. Looked like SHIELD had a few tricks of their own, likely stolen from the very aliens that were in the Cube at the moment.

For the moment, Clint got to stand back and watch as the ship and the facility exchanged fire, but when there was a small explosion just beyond him as one of the shield generators finally gave out, it was time to get down to business and not just watch the fireworks.

The Kree ship had nosed into the opening created by the weakened shields, its sharp bow acting almost like a sword to cut into the facility and more or less force a docking as the hatch opened and Kree soldiers started to spill out over the facility.

"And this is the part where it gets interesting," Clint muttered to himself, stringing three arrows at once as he fired at the first Kree through the hatch, drawing their attention. He started to grin to himself. He always liked being a target — it meant that he was doing something right to get them annoyed with him.

The SHIELD agents on the roof and throughout the facility had surprises of the own — recently upgraded weapons that Clint hadn't seen in the field yet. He'd been pretty sure that some of those were still in the prototype phase last he'd been in SHIELD, but then… it wasn't like they could exactly be picky about things like that when they were being invaded again.

One of the Kree soldiers tried to take advantage of what the guy probably thought was Clint's distraction over the new SHIELD weapons and took a pot shot at the archer, but Clint saw it coming and ducked out of the way quickly, though not fast enough to avoid getting some brick dust in the mouth when the wall next to his head took the hit and bits of it exploded in a puff.

Clint pulled a horrible face as he tried to get the taste out of his mouth. "Really?" He shook his head and muttered under his breath. "Of course. Of  _course_ I get brick in the mouth as soon as the invasion starts up. Typical."

* * *

Inside the facility, Natasha was helping to run the counterpoint to the invading Kree ship, even manning one of their Skrull composite weapons when one of the agents pointed it out to her and noted that it was specifically designed to pierce Kree hulls.

She let out a string of Russian words that the agent nearest her looked surprised at when the Kree ship blasted through a nearby wall and showered her in debris. She'd been struck in the upper arm and could feel the warm blood trickling into the crease on her elbow, but it wasn't anything that would do lasting damage — or keep her from continuing to shoot right back at these alien invaders.

When the Kree ship turned to level its weapons and to give the invaders a bit more space to pour into the facility itself, it gave Natasha just the opening she needed, too, and she fired off the Skrull weapon with a satisfied smirk as half of the ship seemed to erode away after her direct hit.

"He-ey. Someone's trying to steal my shtick," Clint complained over the comms. "That's the kind of shot  _I_ like to take."

"You weren't here to take it," Natasha pointed out with a pleased sort of grin. "Next time, pick your position a little better."

"Yeah? How 'bout you just blow 'em up so there won't be a next time, and I'll pick off the ones that got in, 'kay?"

She chuckled to herself as the Skrull weapon warmed up for another big blast. Between the two of them, they'd have this wrapped up in no time.

* * *

Remy's place on the Gulf probably would have been considered to have a picturesque view on most normal days. One side of the house overlooked a steep incline that led down toward the water, and the other side, if you were in the top floors, gave an excellent view of the city skyline over the tops of the trees. But with the invasion incoming, the view wasn't exactly the serene, sleepy, Southern picture that it probably usually was.

Those that had been more or less sent into hiding with the kids were able to watch the Kree ships zip across the sky and to see the flashes of light that were energy detonations both in the sky and on the ground — and while for the moment, most of the fighting was close to the cities, even this far out from anything major, they could feel the occasional tremor beneath their feet.

It had been several days since the first of the Kree ships led out the invasion, and the frustrating part for the residents of Remy's hideaway was that they didn't know what was happening outside of what they could see outside or on the news — at least, not in any immediate sense. Their friends and family tried to keep them updated as best they could, but live feeds and constant radio contact were a security risk none of them were willing to take, not when it might mean the Kree discovered where the kids were hidden away.

There was a much brighter flash than anything else that had happened yet, followed by a tremor that rattled the windows, and Tyler looked up from where he was sitting in the corner holding Elin to see that Remy had swept into the room with a huge frown.

"It's time to get ev'ryone a bit deeper under de ground," Remy said, with half a glance over his shoulder at the light show beyond them.

"Are you sure I can't just … add to the light show?" Jubilee said with a worried look on her face as he ushered them toward the stairwell.

"If you can make it an hour without gettin' sick, we'll think about it," Annie said in a tone that suggested she wasn't actually going to think about it.

"You sound just like your husband," Jubilee grumped. "No. Fun. This whole invasion can be over with if I just barf on the creep in charge. He'll be so grossed out he'll just, like, pack it up and go."

"This is true," Kate said, nodding seriously. "I'll help you. Just spin me twice, and we'll be good. Little Elf likes to kick things that shouldn't be kicked when we spin."

"Yeah, well …" Jubilee kind of drifted off a bit and started to mutter about 'stupid ferals' and 'stupider Kree' just loud enough for Kate to catch.

Kate tipped her head Jubilee's way as Chance shifted in her arms to be sure he could see Elin while they were moving — so he knew she was coming with them and not being left behind or something. "Yeah well, they're overprotective," Kate said carefully. "The ferals anyway. Does… your Kree know… things?"

"Nope, he knows surprisingly little," Jubilee said back low. "Stupid Supremor interrupting things. Wanna lodge a plasma bomb in his nose so freakin' deep … "

"Well, interrupting something like that…" Kate tipped her head. "I'll sit on Remy, and you can go blow things up on your way to find the Marvel Boy and tell him," she said only half-teasing.

"Doubt he'd be able to concentrate enough to  _hear_ me," Jubilee grumped. "Again."

"We'll blow up the Supremor too, and then he'll have to listen," Kate assured her even as Annie looked at both of them with raised eyebrows. "In the meantime, be sick and miserable with me and make Remy and Ty find as much candy as possible to feed our addiction."

"Something tells me that supplies are going to be hard to come by if they're not already, and I really don't want my snuggly Swamp Rat caught in the crossfire," Jubilee said before she leaned in close to Kate. "He's a cuddler."

Kate grinned over her shoulder at Remy, who was indeed in the middle of all but cooing talking with Charlie as he latched the door to the cellar behind them. Charlie was giggling madly as his accent seemed to get thicker talking with her — which only made her giggle harder. "Yeah, I figured that out," Kate whispered to Jubilee.

Chance, meanwhile, immediately slipped out of Kate's arms the second they sat down to go run over to Tyler to check on Elin. "It stormin," he told both Ty and Elin. "Loud!"

"Don't you worry, sweetheart," Annie told him as she reached over to ruffle his brown curls. "It's quieter down here, see?" She gestured around the room, and for a second, everyone was quiet enough that they could only hear the very softest of tremors if they strained.

"So, until the storm is over," Tyler suggested to Chance, "why don't we just play, okay?"

Chance positively beamed. "Otay," he agreed, giving Elin a very quick baby kiss before he toddled off to find something to play with, returning a few moments later so he could make sure he was playing where he could see both Elin and his sister — a fact that didn't escape the notice of anyone in the room, especially when there was a faint rumbling and the little boy almost instantly reached for Charlie with a look that was so much like his father that they couldn't possibly miss it.

"It's okay, honey," Annie tried to tell him when she saw that protective look, but he looked up at her with wide eyes.

"All safe?" he asked seriously, and Annie melted that much more.

"Yes, baby," she said, scooping him up to give him a little kiss. "We're all going to be just fine. Thank you for looking out for us, my beautiful little boy."

Chance completely misunderstood why Annie looked the way she did and patted his mom on the cheek. "It otay, Mama," he said. "All safe. See?" He took her face in his hands to turn her toward Remy and Charlie, then toward Ty and Elin. "All safe!"

Annie snuggled her little boy that much more. "Yes, you're right, sweetie," she told him, then decided to distract him by tickling him so he'd stop looking quite so much like he was ready to be a superhero before he was even two years old.

"Oh, I see — it starts early," said a new voice, startling the gathered X-Men into being on the alert until they recognized Cable and Hope Summers stepping into the room in a wash of light. Hope was grinning widely as she looked over at Annie and the twins. "So, so early."

"Whatchu doin' here?" Remy asked, putting away the cards that he had been ready to throw at the intruders only moments before.

"We thought you could use an extra set of hands," Nate said simply as he made his way over to where Annie was with the little twins. He gave Chance a warm smile, and Chance just  _stared_ at him, totally awed.

Charlie, on the other hand, looked suspicious of the very large man in the room — and this time, it was her turn to get protective, stepping around Annie's legs so she was between Nate and Chance as she asked, "Who dat?"

Annie let out a sigh as she looked up at Nate. The twins were too little to understand a time-traveling older half-brother, and the last time he'd been around, it had been for Scott and Annie's wedding. "This is Nate, your big brother," she explained.

"Brudder?" Chance repeated, perking up significantly and wriggling down from Annie's lap. Charlie didn't try to stop him, though she still looked suspicious until Hope reached out telepathically to reassure her.

 _We're here to help take care of your mom and your brother,_ Hope explained, leaving out the part where they were there to meet her, too, and instead appealing to Charlie's obviously protective streak.

Charlie gasped at Hope and then started to giggle. "You in my head!" she said, almost dancing in place. "You in my head!"

Hope nodded with a slow smile. "Yeah, I can do that."

"Wike Wachel," Chance said, glancing over Hope's way with that same sort of awe before he went back to looking straight up at Nate until he crouched down. And as soon as Nate did that, Chance immediately held up his hands to be picked up. "Big brudder wike Forge," he said, leaning in to take Nate's face in both hands and study him and his bionic eye.

Nate smirked as he let Chance explore his face for a moment before he projected,  _Actually, I'm a telepath too._

Chance startled outright before he simply fell apart laughing, hard enough that Nate had to hold him a little tighter so he wouldn't fall out of his arms, and Nate simply sat down with the little guy to let him happily explore Nate's bionic arm and declare that he "wike brudder."

Annie beamed at Hope and Nate down as they sat down with a twin apiece, the mood of the hideout much lighter with the twins giggling and happy, and she reached over to rest her hand on Hope's arm even as Hope continued her telepathic conversation with Charlie.

"Thank you," she said, her warm smile lighting up her eyes.

Hope returned the smile in spades as she tickled Charlie. "Hey, what's family for?"


	4. Trouble On The Far Side Of The Moon

The invasion was starting to take its toll on the heroes fighting to defend Earth. SHIELD and SWORD agents were scrambling to cover helicarriers and bases as well as world capitals in concert with the militaries around the world. And then there was the fact that the Kree had an especially strong presence in New York as they tried — multiple times — to take down Avengers Tower as well as the mansion… it had been a long stretch for everyone on Earth.

But no way were they going to  _only_ play defense.

Captain Marvel and War Machine were already in the air taking the fight to the Kree fleet, and Noh's ship was right behind them, with Thor and K on board and ready to make the invaders rethink their every decision. It was their third such mission in as many days — with not much time for breaks in between and several days of fighting prior to that — and it seemed like the Kree just kept coming.

The lack of sleep was starting to show through for even the three hardy heroes who didn't need as much as their friends — but then, Noh had pointed out, the Kree were just as tired and likely hadn't expected as much resistance as they got, so now was a good time to strike.

All three of them had coffees in hand, and Noh was surprised at the fact that the caffeine actually seemed to be having an effect on K — though he was also concerned, as it meant that her healing was starting to wear down as well. He supposed, well over a week straight of fighting would do that to a person.

Thankfully, if all went well, the first part of this mission — getting them to the large orbiting station that the Kree had set up that seemed to be a triage of sorts for injured Kree craft — would be simple enough. Noh and Forge had been working together for the past few days to mimic the signature of an injured Kree ship from the  _correct_ dimension so that they could hopefully slip in, and then… well, the plan was, as always, to destroy things.

Noh looked over and noticed the way that K was drumming her fingers along the side of her coffee mug and gave her a bright smile. "I can simply catapult you into the station when we are close enough if you find you cannot wait to get started," he teased.

"I could ride on Thor's shoulders too," K replied with a little smirk.

"This would help you to reach those further from the ground," Thor teased her, laughing outright.

"Good thing I keep you around just for opening jars and reaching bad guys when chewing their ankles isn't quite effective," she agreed.

Thor's eyes just twinkled with laughter. "As ever, I'm happy to serve the needs of a good lady and a warrior woman," he laughed. "Even if I am relegated to being a ladder in the process."

"But such a lovely ladder," K chuckled.

Noh just shook his head at both of them and muttered something in Kree, but when Thor responded back with a laugh and something in the same language, Noh looked downright surprised as he turned to face the thunder god. "I didn't know you could do that," he said.

"It's the gift of All-Speak," Thor explained with a scrunched up brow. "When you were an Avenger, you saw it in use."

But Noh waved his hand. "No, I mean — I didn't know that gift applied to dialects outside your own dimension," he said. "I can understand the Kree language here and be understood… but it's a different dialect, and it took some time for me to get used to. You... You spoke  _my_ language," he explained, the grin widening with every word. "I thought I would never hear it again."

"I guess it's time you started teaching some of us then," K pointed out with a warm smile.

"I didn't think there was much reason to," Noh admitted. "The Kree in your universe — you deal with them often enough that you should learn  _their_  language."

"Who wants to talk to them, though?" K asked with her head tipped to one side.

Noh grinned at her outright. "Apparently not you. Or so I've heard from the reports of the negotiations."

"Well, they … didn't rub me the right way. You could feel the outrage coming off of Steve and Scott," she replied. "No one is allowed to rile Captain America like that. Ever. I couldn't let it stand."

"Or let them stand," Thor supplied helpfully, still grinning wide. "And after their declaration of war, they forfeited the right to stand in your presence."

"Well that's just it," she defended. "They said it was surrender or war. No way in hell was anyone there going to roll over."

"Certainly not with the good captain and the leader of the X-Men — not to mention two of the most stubborn people I have ever met," Thor agreed, still entirely relaxed and laughing the closer they got to the Kree station.

"If they actually would have wanted to negotiate, they would have sent someone other than a damn warmonger," K said with a nod.

"Well, as you are always reminding me — we cannot dwell on would haves," Noh said with a twinkle in his eye before he gestured to the approaching Kree station. "Let us focus on the immediate future, then — which we will be sure to fill with the destruction of our enemies."

"Well said," Thor agreed, his hand on the hammer at his side. He smiled at his two companions. "And perhaps when we are finished here, we will find more to do. I believe I enjoy having you both at my side. The destruction you sow is far-reaching and astonishing."

"Quite the compliment, considering," K said toward Noh. "You're trouble — you hear that, moondust?"

"I have always been trouble," Noh said with a smirk as he double-checked the readings their ship was putting out. No alerts had been triggered, and they were fast approaching the station — but he was ready for when something inevitably went wrong. "And you, my friend, have always been moreso."

"Only since I started hanging with these guys," K answered. "I had ten years of quiet."

"It sounds dreadfully boring," Thor declared. "I for one am glad they pulled you from it."

"It was a nice break, considering how the twenty or so before it went," she replied as she watched their approach.

Thor raised an eyebrow, already drawing out his hammer as Noh started to set them down in the station. "I'll want the names of any who bothered you so that, when this is over, you and I can continue our destructive paths through those who deserve it."

"We'll make hit lists later," she said as she reached over and patted his arm.

"After we deal with my wayward and prideful people," Noh agreed as the wristbands he wore formed guns, and he saluted them both with one. "Until then — after you," he said, stepping back with a smirk and a slight bow as the wall to his ship pulled back and the three of them rushed out into the station to begin their work of destruction.

Despite the sheer numbers of the Kree — most of whom were soldiers itching for a fight while they waited for their crafts to be fixed — it was clear that the three heroes of Earth were exactly the right team for the job. Thor was gleefully smashing through soldiers and ships and equipment alike, and K was putting every dirty trick to use on any Kree who came close to Noh while her little moonbeam man was running from ship to ship and either tearing them apart or disabling them as only another Kree would know how to do, taking important components and upsetting delicate engine balances that resulted in the most spectacular explosions.

When they were reasonably certain that none of the ships in the hangar could be used to fire on them, the three of them turned their sights more toward destroying the station itself and had managed to set fire to at least one large bank of equipment before another injured craft arrived, unsteady in the air but unmistakable in its markings — an Accuser ship.

The ship itself was badly damaged and barely made the landing, but Thor was there almost as soon as it touched down to slam his hammer into the side of the ship with a laugh and jam the ramp that would have let the Accusers exit the craft. The loud  _clang_ that was the ramp trying unsuccessfully to open echoed in the bay and drew the attention of the other two, who both looked less than pleased to see that more Accusers had decided to join the party.

"Oh, eeew," K said with a little sneer. "These jerks don't know how to play right."

"Then let's ruin their day," Noh suggested just before he finished tearing out some equipment that looked important — and that had, until then, been embedded in the walls.

K followed Noh's cue and started tearing into one of the power sources for the ships and then moved on to the engines as well — to make sure they were properly miserable.

Thor, meanwhile, was fairly amused by the attempts of the Accusers to get out of the craft through side exits — bottlenecked and vulnerable to his lightning. He almost lazily kept them trapped inside, even occasionally turning his attention elsewhere to strike more equipment inside the station. He studied the two side exits for a moment and then nodded before he moved to block them the same way he had done with the ramp. "If you can continue to disable their power, perhaps we can simply leave them to their own devices in the prison of their own making," he suggested.

Noh looked to K and nodded as the two of them simply tore out everything important that could be reached from the outside — and with Thor blocking the exits, the Accusers were well and truly stuck, leaving the three defenders of Earth open to continue on their way through the station.

Most of the resistance had been down in the bay where the injured ships came in, so as the three of them moved through the station, they did significantly less fighting and much more sabotage. Several fires followed them like breadcrumbs to mark their paths as they did everything in their power to make sure that the station would be inoperable — and irretrievably so. From lightning to slashing and stabbing to simply exploding or smashing things to bits, the place was well and truly wrecked within half an hour.

K was glad to see the destruction, but she was fairly worn out by the time that half hour of heavy trashing and thrashing was over. "I should have brought my weapons," she said to Noh with a grin. "Didn't even think about it until now."

"Had you done so, you know we would also have needed to bring a camera of some sort for photographic evidence for Iron Man," Noh pointed out with a grin to match hers.

"We missed our shot," she agreed with a little laugh that trailed off when she tipped her head for a second on hearing something beyond them, and Noh stiffened when he heard it as well — approaching soldiers.

"I thought we dealt with all those in this station," Noh said with a frown.

"Apparently not," she replied at just over a whisper. She slid her claws out slowly, and the two of them turned to head toward the source of the noise. Thor watched their backs as K and Noh finally split up to circle around the disturbance — when K swore loudly as one of the Accusers glanced a laser off her shoulder.

Noh spun to see what the problem was and started to echo her sentiment, swearing in several languages as a couple Accusers leveled their sights on him as well. The bulk of them seemed to be occupied with Thor, but the Accusers had managed to move quickly enough to separate Thor from the other two, and Noh was concerned for his big blonde friend — being separated was never a good sign.

He needn't have worried, though. As one of the Accusers got close enough to Thor to try to use a stasis field on him, Thor responded with a look of deep offense and plowed into the Kree, knocking him backward into three other Accusers. The group of them hit the wall with a resounding and echoing set of cracks that had nothing to do with the wall or equipment but with bones breaking.

Still, Noh had to wonder — why use the stasis fields at all? Those were weapons to subdue, not to kill — and seeing the Accuser try to use it, even if it was unsuccessful, had Noh on edge.

He turned to warn K of his suspicions but was surprised when he saw that she was slowing down, barely managing to dodge a follow-up blast from one of the Accusers that wasn't facing down Thor. It seemed she really didn't need the warning about the stasis field; it was plain to see the Accuser nearest her was trying to sneak up on her from behind to pull that very trick.

She had one hand on her hip as she half-caught her breath, and Noh watched as her gaze tracked to her left when the Accuser drew closer. She kept her body language relaxed right up until he made a move, and she turned with such speed that the Kree simply didn't have time to react before she sunk her claws in his chest and drew them straight down to his navel.

Which was just enough time for the Accuser that was hidden behind a smoking, smoldering craft to hit her with a stasis field anyhow — while her claws were still dripping in blood.

Noh let out a shout of dismay and frustration on seeing his friend in trouble and rushed toward her. He was well enough worn that he didn't quite have the energy to jump into a white run at that point, so he knew he wasn't operating at his peak — but no way was he going to let that Accuser get away with K. And Thor was still occupied with what seemed to be almost the entirety of the ship full of Accusers and elite soldiers. Thor was winning — but he wouldn't be there to back Noh up in time either.

Noh made a rush for K and wasn't surprised in the least when the Accuser stepped into his path, though the Accuser was likely shocked by the force of Noh's hit. He was, after all, no ordinary Kree — and he could hit much harder than they could.

"You will not touch her," he snarled out at the Accuser as he threw the man into the nearest wall and hoisted him by the shoulders of his armor, smashing in the helmet to prevent him from firing any lasers as he did so.

He tossed the now limp Accuser aside and rushed toward K again, though he had only made it a few steps before another two Accusers made a break for him, trying to tackle him from behind. He dodged away from the first, but, unfortunately, the motion only brought him right into the path of the second, and the two went down in a tumble. Noh lashed out with a snarl as he abandoned the guns in favor of his own nails, one of which he broke off in the Accuser's neck — though the Accuser returned the favor by jamming the stasis generator into Noh's side, freezing him in place.

Of course, what the Accuser didn't realize was that Noh's nails were explosive, and by freezing the former Marvel Boy in place, he'd just ensured his own death. There was no way for Noh to delay the explosion that followed as the embedded nail detonated and took out the Accuser, a chunk of his buddy — and left Noh pretty burnt up too.

Even though their initial attackers were down for the count, though, that still left Noh and K frozen in place, and despite his best efforts, Thor was still fighting off far more Accusers at once than anyone should have had to deal with. By the time he had successfully flattened enough of them to break free and dash after his friends — it was clear he was too late. As he arrived at the bay, he saw a couple Accusers take off in the one good ship left in the bay — Noh's.

* * *

The helicarrier was smoking — but still in the air — after a successful route of three different Kree warbirds that had come after SHIELD, though admittedly, most of the SHIELD staff were still on high alert, half expecting a fourth attack after so many in quick succession.

There was a bit of trepidation when one of the agents spotted something fast headed right for them — until their long-range scanners identified the Asgardian signature, and a very worn-looking and slightly singed Thor came to a stop on the helicarrier, looking urgent. "I must speak with the director," he told the nearest agent. "Tell me where I can find him — this is not a request."

The slightly balding agent looked him over for a second — he'd obviously been around SHIELD long enough that he wasn't starry-eyed around displays like that, which was, of course, why he was assigned at the helicarrier. But he could also clearly see that Thor had just been in a battle, as his armor was still smoking, and the agent finaly nodded. "I'll take you there," he said. "And let the director know you're coming."

When they arrived, Fury glanced up, looking half irritated at the intrusion while he was going over incoming data on damage and how attacks around the globe were resolving or starting up. "Don't you have somewhere to be that doesn't have anything to do with flyin' up onto my helicarrier and pushing around my agents? You just about scared that poor old boy to death just now."

"It's never my intention to send your agents to an early grave when they do not deserve it," Thor told him with one eyebrow raised. "But I believe we both know that had I any other transportation, I would have used it to avoid that very thing."

"Where's the rest of your group?" Fury asked with a deeply set frown. "I  _thought_ you were destroying Kree ships with Noh-Varr and Logan's better half."

The slightest of smirks crossed Thor's face at the description of K before he settled into a more serious expression. "We were indeed destroying Kree ships — until the Accusers overran us. They have taken both my companions and Noh-Varr's ship — I know not where."

Fury let out a curse not well-hidden in a weary sigh and turned from Thor to the massive amount of data readouts going up on the screens on the bridge. "Quartermain," Fury called out in a somber tone. "See if you can track K's beacon. All the X-Men have them. I'll give Summers and Logan a call, let them know they need to be ready to head out after them. They won't want to leave one of their own in Kree custody for longer than necessary."

"On it, sir," was the quick response from Clay nearby as Thor kept his expression of relief well-hidden at not having to tell Logan that he'd lost his wife — temporarily, of course.

Quartermain worked for a few moments while Fury settled into a glare before he got his answer: "Far side of the moon. Looks like there's a heavy concentration of Kree forces gathered there, too."

"We'll need to take a few volunteers," Fury mused, mostly to himself. "But I want to keep most of them earthbound — where they're needed." He looked over to Thor and broke his professional tone. "How did it happen, anyhow?"

Thor let out a long breath. "It was an unlucky combination of exhaustion, surprise, and sheer numbers," he admitted. "For myself, I was occupied with dozens of Accusers and their ilk, and I could only see part of the fight — though I do know the Accusers employed their stasis fields to detain them. They tried the same trick on me, but I was fortunate enough to avoid the same fate as our friends."

Fury watched him for a moment once the story was over before he let out a sigh and made the call. He managed to catch the X-Men in a lull, and he could see from the screens that they'd done well in their battle — though they were clearly worn out from all the fighting. "Summers, how's it looking down there?" Fury said as he watched them on the feed.

"Right now? They've got their tails between their legs," Scott said with a small smirk. "Never been so grateful for the upgrade Forge and Noh gave the mansion. Anything new, sir?" he added. "I doubt you're calling just for an update."

"Things didn't go so good at the repair checkpoint," Fury said frankly. "They took prisoners."

Scott's eyes widened, and his eyebrows went straight up to his hairline. "Who?" he asked quickly.

"Noh-Varr and K."

Logan had been standing near enough to Scott that he didn't need to be told, and for a moment the two X-Men shared a glance. Then, all at once, Logan snarled in frustration and kicked a piece of debris.

"Do you have a location?" Scott asked over the sound of the debris clattering behind them. "We'll send a bird up as soon as we've got coordinates."

"We followed her beacon, and they're stationed on the dark side of the moon," Fury replied. "I'm gathering up a team to join you. They're  _heavily_  fortified."

"They won't be for much longer once we get there," Scott promised, glancing over at Logan, who was still beyond words and clearly shrugging off his exhaustion and ready to fight. "Have your team ready to go when we get there" he suggested.

"Will do," Fury agreed before he turned off the comm and let out a heavy sigh. "I want status reports on everyone."

Quartermain nodded at that. "Yes sir. I'll make sure they're sent directly to you."

Fury nodded and couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose as he watched the readouts of the fight. This invasion was wearing them down — and a rescue mission on top of it was only going to complicate matter.


	5. Okay, This Looks Bad

In addition to Scott and Logan, Clint and Natasha had been nearby when Fury called the mansion to give the two X-Men the news of their missing teammates. They'd both just returned from fending off yet another raid on the Cube, and honestly, it had just been good luck that they were around for backup when the mansion was hit again. Most of the X-Men were pretty well spread out at that point, defending hometowns or taking to space where they could, and Natasha had learned from her interrogation of one of the Kree who tried to take the Cube that the mansion and Avengers Tower were the highest priority targets — which got her moving pretty quick when she knew it was just Scott and her  _dyaden'ka_ defending the place.

After all, Noh's security measures were good, but still, she didn't think even he and Forge could design a system that could hold off an invasion indefinitely. Not on such short notice anyhow.

Now, after all of that effort helping the X-Men to defend their home, the call had come in for Fury that they needed to rescue their teammates. Of course, Clint and Natasha didn't hesitate to jump in to help with that too.

"One of the agents at the Cube figured out how to help me jerry-rig one of the Skrull weapons, and those things do some pretty good damage to Kree tech," Clint said, gesturing at the Quinjet. "We can give you a lift — and blast anybody between us and them."

"We can't leave the mansion undefended," Scott said with a small frown, though it was clear from his tone and body language that he was itching to rush off after their captured friends instead of thinking strategically.

"You won't be," Natasha assured him. "We'll send Thor down here — it sounds like he could use some time to recover, and playing defense would be exactly the right job."

Clint waved one hand with the comm in it before he had already started to make the call without even waiting for Scott to agree with Natasha. That was pretty usual for him, though — he was of the opinion that everyone should just always agree with Natasha. And since it was a way for them to make sure the mansion was guarded  _and_ give both Scott and Logan a chance to go after the captured X-Men… there wasn't much in the way of argument anyway.

"You wanna fly, Cyclops?" Clint offered when he'd finished talking with Thor and the group of them quickly climbed into the Quinjet. "I'm manning the Skrull gun. Takes a while to learn it, and Nat and I have logged some serious hours on it the past few days."

Scott raised an eyebrow as he looked over at the jerry-rigged weapon and simply reached over to pop open part of the weapon that neither of the other two had even known about. "Charges faster if you vent it first," he explained with a dry smirk before he headed to the cockpit.

Clint blinked a couple times before he shook his head. "Figures," he muttered out as he slid into position. "Never trust SHIELD to give you the full workup of something like this, even in an invasion."

"Likely they didn't know how to work the damn thing," Logan grumbled.

"Well, give the baby agents some credit for what they had," Clint remarked philosophically as Natasha climbed into copilot and rolled her eyes at the men in the jet with a whispered comment about 'posturing' that had Logan biting back a laugh in spite of the severity of the situation.

"Thor's on his way — let's get moving," Natasha said. She was already reaching over to get the preflight started; it was clear the delay with the weapon was too long for her tastes when they could be fighting Kree. In a matter of moments, she and Scott had them in the air — and rushing to the helicarrier as fast as they could.

When they got to the helicarrier, as promised, Fury's assembled rescue team was there to meet them — though it was easy to see the looks of trepidation on a few faces the closer they got to leaving for the moon, the more obvious it was that Logan was getting ready to simply start bashing in alien skulls. And heaven help anyone who got in his way.

The lead agent gave Scott the coordinates and was ushering his men into jets of their own when a proximity alarm went off to signal the approach of several Kree warships for yet another attack against the helicarrier.

"They just don't give up, do they?" Clint said, annoyed, as everyone on the helicarrier scrambled to switch from loading up to defensive positions.

"We'll bloody their noses and send them running fast enough," Natasha said, looking toward Logan, who looked as if the delay was a personal insult to him. "If we can punch a hole through them, we'll let SHIELD deal with the rest."

"Good thing I've got a new weapon that fires faster than last time I used it," Clint said with a grin over at Scott, who shrugged and smirked in response as the four of them climbed back in the Quinjet to meet the Kree in the air.

"You'd have better sights if the way you rigged it hadn't locked up the center of it," Scott said over his shoulder.

"Fountain of knowledge today," Clint said, shaking his head, though he was grinning wide. "Next time we come play exchange students at the mansion, I formally request an alien tech remedial course."

"I'll see what I can do to get Kitty to walk you through it slow," Scott said distractedly.

A few other SHIELD jets scrambled around them as they headed out to meet the huge Kree warships before they could get to the helicarrier, and Clint announced their annoyance with the invaders with the first shot fired in that battle — a direct hit to one of their weapons ports that had him grinning. "Don't need sights," he laughed to himself. "I saw that one easy enough."

"Mind stowin' the commentary and just gettin' with the damage?" Logan growled out.

"C'mon, Logan. You've known me  _how_ long now?" came the chuckled response over the low whine of the gun charging back up.

"Long enough for you to know I'm not in the damn mood," he replied half under his breath, knowing that Clint wouldn't hear him.

Natasha reached over and squeezed his arm. "Would you prefer we simply threw you at the nearest ship and let you do all the work?" she asked, one eyebrow raised and her tone light and teasing.

"Yes," he shot back, looking dead serious.

"Next time, then," she promised before a shot from the Kree ship went screaming past, barely missing them as Scott yanked hard on the stick to get them away from it.

"That Skrull thing's taking too long to recharge, even with the vents open," Scott muttered Logan's way. "Think you could man something a little more earthly in the meantime? Pretty sure there's some Stark weapons systems in this thing you could play with."

"Might as well," he muttered before he set himself up with the targeting system that fired plasma beams that simply sliced through the Kree ships. Natasha had to smirk to herself when she noticed right away that he wasn't aiming for engines or wings — but the cockpits.

It was an effective strategy. The first time Logan blasted through a cockpit, the Kree ship listed heavily to the side and very nearly crashed into one of its sister ships before the second one course-corrected — right into Clint's sights for a debilitating blast that took out its engine and had the second warship spinning out of control as well.

The remaining warships very quickly decided to concentrate their fire on the Quinjet, making it difficult for either Logan or Clint to get a good shot when Scott was forced into more and more complicated maneuvers to try to keep from getting blasted out of the sky.

The Kree were returning the favor in targeting the cockpit as well, and while Scott was a great pilot, it was not possible for him to keep it up when three different warships had fired from different locations — and it was really more a miracle that it hit the starboard wing than anything more immediately fatal, even though it did send them into a tight spin.

There was no way it was going to end in anything but a crash landing as the Quinjet kept spinning despite Scott's best attempts to right the ship — even with the navigational equipment all but shot. The Quinjet plowed into the ground heavily on one side, and to Scott's annoyance, it was the side where Logan had been stationed.

He and Natasha had been lucky — not too badly shaken up in the crash, bumped around but nothing worse — and they shared a glance for all of a second before they both climbed back into the wrecked Quinjet to find their teammates.

Scott got to where he knew Logan had been and had to cut away the metal that surrounded the weapons station, using a fine beam to peel back the layers until he found Logan amid the twisted up Quinjet remains. For his part, Logan was starting to rouse, and once Scott had peeled back some of the metal around his arm, Logan expedited things by cutting through what was left.

Natasha, meanwhile, had gone back to find Clint, and she somehow wasn't surprised to see that he was slightly pinned in what was left of the rigged-up weapon, both Skrull and Stark tech in a mess around him as he hung upside down, a very obvious purple mark on his forehead as he just sort of grinned at her. "Hey, Nat. I'm stuck," he said matter-of-factly. "Gimmie a hand?"

She had to roll her eyes at him but climbed up to help him try to wriggle free from the mess he'd gotten himself in, letting him use her shoulder as a support to hold up his upper body as he tried to disentangle his legs.

"Think we can hurry things along? Blood's rushing to my head," Clint said, and Natasha looked up at him with a small smirk.

"You do look redder than usual." She smirked a bit wider. "Maybe your head could use the circulation, get your brain the blood it needs to think."

"So mean, Nat." But Clint was just grinning at her, still upside down, until they finally got the metal to shift and he went tumbling to the ground, taking her with him as he did so.

He popped back up almost immediately and grinned that much wider at her. "So — we going to keep hanging out?" he asked, and she gave him the  _look_ she reserved for his stupid puns. "Or are we gonna find the others?"

She rolled her eyes at him and climbed to her feet, though when he followed suit, he was quick enough to get past her defenses and very,  _very_ quickly kiss her cheek. "Thanks for saving me from the ceiling," he teased.

"I'll put you back there if you don't quit it," she threatened despite the widening grin as he followed after her, looking for the best way out of the scrap pile that used to be a Quinjet.

Clint climbed out first when they found a door that would open for them, and he turned to give Natasha a hand out before they surveyed the damage. Clint saw the telltale red that meant Scott was on the other side and likely cutting through, and he tipped his head that way.

"Shall we?" he asked, sweeping out his arms — which just made him a much bigger target to whatever Kree soldiers had been waiting for any survivors to get out of the Quinjet.

The energy weapon hit him hard in the left shoulder, and Natasha let out a cry of her own when the shot had Clint screaming like he was. She moved toward him to help, but she was pinned down by the Kree weapons and couldn't get to the obviously injured Hawkeye.

Clint's shoulder was damaged enough that he simply couldn't use his left arm — and while he was decent with his right, it was difficult for him to make the shots he was used to making with the sidearm he kept in case of emergencies for missions like this. And he was well pinned down to boot. But it was when one of the Kree got close enough to grab his left arm that he knew he was in serious trouble — about a split second before the guy cranked it behind him. Clint was swearing and yelling as loud as his lungs would let him, white light exploding in his vision. He barely had the wherewithal to plunge a knife into the nearest Kree — though he had no idea what he hit — before he blacked out from a blow to the head.

On the other side of the Quinjet, Scott and Logan could hear the shots being fired as they finished cutting their way out of the wreckage even before they were out of the Quinjet — and once they hit the open air, they could hear the rest of it, too: a very loud string of Russian swear words that included everything from creative bodily harm to questioning the parentage of the Kree soldiers.

They'd made it around the corner in time to see Natasha make the rush into the line of fire, guns ablazing. Before Scott could tell him to stop, Logan had rushed in, hot on her heels, to block her progress bodily — taking hits from the Kree weapons and a bullet or two from Natasha as he got in front of her and picked her up to run back toward Scott. He was frowning hard at both of them as he covered their exit, blasting Kree back and detonating their weapons for them.

Natasha was clearly  _not_ pleased in the least and pushing back against Logan with a look of pure fury. " _Derzhat'sya podal'she ot moyego puti!_ " she shouted urgently.

"I'm not going to let you get shot up right now," Logan growled back at her, holding her back while Scott kept up the cover fire.

"I won't be — I'll destroy  _them_ ," she insisted. "They took Hawkeye."

"You wanna take a look at the rounds I took just now that  _weren't_ yours?" Logan looked half concerned and half pissed off. "Ask Scott how many would have been fatal — then who would be taking care of your Hawk?"

"We know where they're taking him anyway — we were headed there in the first place," Scott broke in. "We'll get him back when we get Noh and K — as soon as we can get another jet."

Natasha shot the full force of a glare Scott's way for a second and spit out, " _Ya ne to, chto patsiyent_ ," before she finally relaxed a bit in Logan's grip. "We need a jet. Now."

Scott nodded and turned to his comm to let the SHIELD forces they had been fighting alongside know their current coordinates and to request a pickup — and a new jet — while Natasha was still very quietly muttering curses under her breath. When Scott looked back at them again, he gave them both a single nod. "We'll go in one of the jets the rescue team was going to take anyway. They've lost a few personnel in the attack as well, but we're going ahead as planned as soon as we get up there and as soon as we've got the jet ready to go."

"The SHIELD agents can follow us. But we — we are going as  _soon_ as we're fueled," Natasha insisted, and the expression on her face left absolutely no room for debate.

* * *

The Kree hadn't waited at all before they got started interrogating Clint for everything he knew on how to get into Avengers Tower and get past the security systems in place there — and he was seeing the cells they'd set up for their prisoners for the first time as he was half clinging to consciousness after about an hour or two of telling the Kree just where they could shove their questions.

He picked his head up as much as he could to see who was there with him — after all, he had been part of what was supposed to be a rescue team. So he wasn't too surprised when he saw Noh behind one of the energy-laced doors, looking like he was in fairly rough shape as well. And Clint could see that the walls as well as the doors were shimmering with the slightest of energies — probably to keep anyone with super strength from punching or slicing through.

Further down, he could see K as well — who was flat out glaring and growling at anyone that got too close, pacing in her cell and flexing her hands.

They dropped Clint in a cell nearby, and as soon as his knees hit the floor, they simply let him fall, and he awkwardly caught himself on his right arm. He didn't even make it to the cot before he passed out again.

* * *

Clint woke up again with a shout as the Kree came back — he didn't know how much later it was — and dragged him up by both arms. His left shoulder needed some serious attention; it was so screwed up, Clint was half-sure it would be permanent by the time they were done if they were going to insist on dragging him like this every time they wanted something. "Whatever happened to coffee as a wakeup call?" he grumbled out, but the prison guard ignored him as the Kree hauled him off down the hall to whatever new interrogation they had in mind.

Clint was apparently last to the party. He saw when he arrived that the other two, K and Noh, were already tied in, and the evidence of a few fresh wounds told Clint that they'd started without him too.

"Didn't realize this was a group gathering," he said, a bit louder so he could be sure both of them could hear him too. He broke into a small smile and looked K's way in particular, since she was closer to him. "Came to find you, actually. Turns out I suck at rescues. Oops."

One of the Kree twisted Clint's damaged shoulder until he cried out, and the Kree waited until Clint was breathing hard before he said, "Be silent unless you are addressed, Terran."

"Why don't you back the hell off of him, jackass," K growled out low.

"I'd like nothing more than to get this loud-mouth Terran out of my sights and leave him as someone else's problem," the Kree replied. "It's really so simple — a few codes and security information in exchange for an end to your suffering. Why is this such a hard concept for you and your ilk to understand?"

"Untie my hands and I'll walk you through the signals," K said easily.

The Kree sneered and walked over to where she was, glaring at her. "I don't need your help to do the job I've done for decades," he said as he moved to tip her chin up with one finger.

As soon as he touched her, she twisted her head in a flash and simply bit the offending finger off, crunched it hard in her teeth, and spit it across the room. "No touching."

The Kree cried out, holding his bleeding hand as a couple of the other guards moved in where he had backed off to retaliate for her defiance. The guards were careful to keep their distance, though, as one of them drew a long blade and simply drove it through K's chest, piercing her diaphragm. Until she could heal from it, she was simply unable to draw breath.

"Hey, back off!" Clint shouted as Noh said more or less the same thing, but in the Kree's own language so the message was doubly repeated.

K tried to gasp out a breath, but without the proper muscles working to do the job, she soon passed out. Clint watched her for a moment with a concerned look until he realized that she was, in fact very shallowly breathing.

But it seemed the Kree had figured out the cards to play now — keeping the three prisoners in the same room, forcing them to see and hear the other two being interrogated… It was far more effective than anything they had done individually, and it clearly had the friends upset on each other's behalf more than anything else.

The real change happened, though, when Noh finally slumped into unconsciousness from all the abuse he'd taken. He hadn't been as effective as a tool against the others when he was rerouting pain and couldn't feel it when they hit him. But even when he was being quiet except for his protests on the others' behalfs, his body could only take so much. And, finally, he sagged.

The Kree likely thought they'd finally broken K, too, as she simply started to cry when she saw Noh's head drop down to his chest. And as K broke down, Clint stared at her openly — he'd never heard her cry before. Ever.

But K didn't stop there either. She had gone straight into trembling, sobbing and calling as clearly as she could for Noh, all but begging for him to answer her.

"He'll be okay — K, it's fine. They're not gonna let him die right now," Clint tried to tell her, fairly concerned now.

But that seemed to bring on a fresh wave of deep sobs that looked as if they shook her right down to her bones. She slumped deeply, her shoulders nearly to her ears as she sunk in on herself as much as she could.

"There's no reason to prolong his suffering," the Kree interrogator said in a smooth, would-be soothing tone if the glee wasn't clearly evident in his stride as he headed over to her. "You know what we want. Tell me, and we won't touch him again."

She half cringed away from him, shaking clearly even to Clint halfway across the room. The Kree interrogator smirked to himself and took another step closer, even going so far as to tip his head to the side as he watched her tremble.

He'd just opened his mouth to say something else when she rushed him. It was soundless from her end — except of course for the echoing wet crunch as she bit through his throat, barely having gotten her teeth around his windpipe as she'd wanted to before she hit the end of the energy restraints. There was a gentle tug that showed she'd reached her limit, and the interrogator gurgled and tried to push her away — though she refused to let go of him, finally growling low as a warning to the others once it was clear the damage was done.

The other guards in the room rushed to the Kree's aid, but by the time they'd shot K — it was too late for their interrogator, who crumpled to the ground as soon as she had been hit. He had a long and jagged hole in his throat now.

It was clear the interrogation was over, with not only the interrogator killed but two of the three of the prisoners unconscious now, and in a rush, all three were dragged off to their separate cells. Clint tried to see over his shoulder to keep track of the other two, but a sharp blow to the back of his head put an end to that attempt and rendered the last of the group of them unconscious too.

It was clear the Kree had to regroup if they wanted the information they were looking for.

….

Translations from Russian:

 _Dyaden'ka - "_ little uncle"

 _Derzhat'sya podal'she ot moyego puti -_ "Stay out of my way"

 _Ya ne to, chto patsiyent -_ "I'm not that patient"


	6. The Execution Will Be Televised

For a couple days after K had killed the Kree interrogator, the three prisoners had a bit of a reprieve — and on top of that, it seemed some of the guards were outright nervous to be anywhere near K after seeing what she was capable of. Except for the occasional gloating over another Earth ship shot down, another failed rescue attempt, or something along those lines, the three heroes of Earth heard very little from their captors.

The rest was short-lived, however — though Noh somehow wasn't surprised that the next time he was taken out of his cell, he arrived alone. The last time all three had been in one place hadn't gone well for the Kree.

He wasn't expecting the man who joined him to be the guard captain, however, or for the captain to casually take a seat and regard Noh for a moment — and strike up a conversation. "You know, the flight from Hala all the way out here is a long one," he said. "Half the soldiers who make it are antsy and ready to fight by the time they arrive."

"I've traveled longer distances with better control of my own facilities. But my homeworld was more disciplined than this one," Noh said coolly.

"Doubtful." The captain tipped his head Noh's way for a second. "We just had some replacements come in — after the mess your Terran friend made of things for us."

"That mess was entirely your own doing."

"Perhaps." The captain shrugged. "Perhaps it was our mistake to use the lieutenant we did. I assure you his replacement has plans already. We expect results within the Terran day cycle."

"Then you have not learned from your mistakes at all. Your pride continues — you have learned nothing of the strength of the Terrans. They will not betray their homes."

"Your faith in them is admirable, if not misplaced," the captain replied. "I certainly have no desire to be around when Zarek begins with them."

Noh's eyes flashed at that one. "You call me traitor — but you let  _that_ heretic and renegade lose in your ranks?"

"He's been pardoned by the emperor, and as I understand it, his forced exile has left him…  _itching_ to get to work," the captain said with heat in his own gaze. "Of course, if you find him so distasteful, we can always find other subjects for him. You only have to say the word, and I'll have the interrogation halted — after I've confirmed any information you give me, of course."

Noh gaped at him for a moment. "You cannot expect me to betray my friends on Earth to save the two that are here."

The captain shrugged lightly. "I thought I might extend the hand of mercy to a fellow Kree — even one from a different universe. But if you'd rather allow Zarek free hand, you can join the other two." He didn't give Noh much leeway to answer as he got up and headed for the door. "They're just next door," the captain added. "If I'm not mistaken, those genetic enhancements of yours affect your sense of hearing. I think Zarek wanted to get to work in, oh, five of your Terran minutes."

With that, the captain left Noh alone, the silence somehow more oppressive than the conversation had been as he simply waited with baited breath. Four minutes and forty seconds — by his count — later, the first of the screams started.

* * *

In the next room over, it hadn't taken either K or Clint very long to decide that this new guy had bumped himself right to the top of their list of people to kill as soon as they got out —  _when_ they got out. Especially because, for a substantial period of time, the guy didn't even  _ask_ them anything. He simply decided to amuse himself trying to get them to scream.

"Look, if you're shy about talking out loud in front of the lady, just sign it out," Clint spit out at last, tired of the silence from the Kree. "I can translate."

"He seems the type doesn't he?" K said quietly, flat out ignoring Zarek where he stood.

"Probably plays with himself. Too shy for anybody else," Clint agreed with a wicked grin that earned him a solid hit that knocked the wind out of him again.

She let out a bit of a chuckle at Clint's words, though she was frowning at the beating he was taking, and nodded slowly. "All these creeps trying to take over one place or another. Same problem. Compensating for  _something._ "

"Didn't get much past grade school, but I did learn about  _those_ complexes."

"As I understand it, it's harder to sympathize when you don't have the same problem … and word on the street is you're perfectly  _fine_ , Hawkeye. Don't stoop for him. Let him take his bruised ego back to his princess with the big hammer."

"Not my type anyway," Clint said breezily. "And 'word on the street'? You been talking with Nat, haven't you?" He grinned almost obscenely.

"Maybe a little," she said with a lopsided smile his way. "She brags on you when you can't hear her."

"Oh, so all the time."

"Yep," she agreed. "As soon as your back is turned. Gushing. All over the place."

Zarek had seemed annoyed by their back and forth exchange for a moment, but now — there was a strange almost-smile lurking at the corner of his mouth. "And I suppose this is the woman who is mother to the delightful curly-haired little boy of yours," he said mildly to Clint, who stopped his obscene grin pretty darn quickly at that.

K narrowed her eyes at Zarek and tipped her head to the side as she watched him move toward Clint. "He's just screwing with you Hawkeye." Her expression was dead serious as she unblinkingly glared Zarek's way.

"It's a compliment," Zarek said in that same mild tone. "For a Terran child, the boy really is delightful. The pattern of spots across his nose is distinctive, too."

"How would you know?" K asked.

"I haven't been to Earth yet," Zarek said, waving his hand as Clint looked positively livid. "But I've seen the images of him."

"Which images?" K said with her head tipped slightly.

"I couldn't tell you their origin — just that there were quite a few," Zarek said, and there was no mistaking the look on his face as he had his sights fixed on the uncharacteristically quiet Hawkeye.

"Ah," K said, nodding her head. "So you went through his wallet then. Or his phone."

"I did no such thing; I received the images from the staff here," Zarek said, sounding supremely insulted. "I am no common thief."

"Your whole species are nothing but common thieves. Genetically stagnant  _thieves._ "

"Strong words, considering the company you keep," Zarek replied shortly.

"Just means I'm intimately familiar with Kree shortcomings," she replied. "Well... not entirely intimate. No."

He waved his hand dismissively at her. "You know nothing then, Terran. Only that which you fail to comprehend from a genetic anomaly of another dimension."

"I know that they're scraping the bottom of the barrel if they have you here," she said easily.

Zarek's eyes flashed. "You have it entirely backwards, Terran," he hissed out. "It is I who is stooping low to come to this… backwater moon."

"Then you should tuck your tiny tail between your legs … and  _leave_ before you die." She half grinned up at him. "Because I promise you — you will. Die."

"A shame for you I cannot make the same promise," he shot back. "Not in your case, at any rate — though perhaps I can help end the suffering of your two companions before this is all said and done."

"You have it wrong," K all but purred back to him. "It's my companions that will kill you. I wouldn't dirty my claws on you."

"Good thing I make most of my shots from far out so I don't have to get dirty either," Clint half-whispered. "But I might make an exception in this case, all things considered," he added in a slightly louder tone.

"I doubt you'll have the strength to do any such thing," Zarek sneered Clint's way before he turned his attention to K. "You've served your purpose this morning — I don't need you anymore," he told her frankly as he moved to call in some guards to take her back to her cell.

"I know that one. That's Kree for you can't handle me yourself. Come on — you look strong enough to move one little Terran on your own." K smirked a bit. "Or are you afraid I might hurt you?"

"Hurt me? No," he said with a little laugh. "But I'm not finished here. You are a distraction — now run along back where you belong."

"Hard to find any woods up here in space to get her back where she belongs," Clint pointed out. "At least on this moon. Maybe other moons... "

K nodded and waved her hand to get his attention before she very carefully signed out 'he's lying'. Clint met her gaze for a second before he nodded almost imperceptibly as Zarek's guards arrived to take K back to her cell — and to leave Clint alone with Zarek.

* * *

The borrowed SHIELD jet was leaking fuel and barely got Scott, Logan, and Natasha to the ground before it would have fallen out of the sky — but it was a near thing. They'd have to patch that and refuel before they could go back for another assault on the moon base — which was pretty much all those three had been doing for  _days_ now.

"They had more warbirds there than last time," Natasha said to Scott with a deep frown.

"They're tying up their forces just trying to keep us out," Scott agreed. He let out a sigh. "Something's going on there. I saw more imperial ships than have any right to be at a prison complex."

Natasha had a smirk just at the edge of her mouth. "Well," she said softly. "Maybe they figured out that they bit off more than they could chew with those three."

"That would imply that they might admit a pair of Terrans and a turncoat could do them damage," Scott said with a ghost of a laugh as he watched Logan, who didn't look the slightest bit amused as he went over the freshest intel from Fury. Logan was beyond words at that point anyway, tearing into the Kree with a ferocity that had Scott honestly concerned. He hadn't seen Logan get like this in a long time, and he knew if it kept up that Logan wasn't going to be able to pull it back. At all.

"Well, they'd never admit it out  _loud_ ," Natasha agreed. She was already trading out her used Widow's Bites for some with more of a charge as she spoke — in addition to the bracelets she'd "borrowed" from K's room. She glanced over at Logan as well and let out a breath. She had noticed the change in him too — and that was only the only reason she wasn't beyond speaking herself. Someone had to be okay between the two of them, and she'd had years and years of practice pretending not to care. "How long will those repairs take?"

Scott shrugged up one shoulder. "Should be an easy fix — we'll be ready to go as soon as we fill back up."

"Good. I don't want to give them too much time to regroup. We were closer than ever this last time — I know it," she said with a determined sort of frown.

"Yeah, and they were closer than ever at blowing us up," Scott muttered to himself. Every time they went back, it seemed like the Kree had learned that much more about their maneuvers, and Scott was having to pull some of his best piloting tricks just to keep them honest.

While Scott got started on repairs, Natasha headed for the door to get them supplies — even if she didn't feel like eating, she was aware it was necessary, and she could force herself — when a shrill and piercing alarm cut through the air.

"That's not your perimeter alert," she shouted over at Scott with her brow scrunched. "I've heard what that sounds like — so what's this?"

"I have no idea," Scott shouted back, though he didn't have time to consider it before a bamf appeared on his shoulder — and one right next to Natasha. Both of the little blue imps looked like stressed out Halloween cats — eyes wide, hackles raised. When the pair of bamfs latched onto them and teleported them out — almost all the way to the gates and under cover of the trees — Natasha and Scott looked more than a little confused, particularly when the remaining members of the X-Men all showed up the same way, with Kurt looking completely nervous as he rushed over to Scott to ask what was going on.

"Where is the attack coming from — and can we meet it?" Kurt asked quickly as he released his hold on Logan's arm — he'd been the one to teleport Logan out rather than any of the bamfs.

"I don't know," Scott admitted as the rest of the group teleported out — even Laura and Gabby, who had volunteered to try to help with things while Logan was out with the group trying to break out the three prisoners.

Almost in answer, three Kree warships all but screamed to a stop out of the clouds and simply started to open fire on the mansion, completely undeterred by any of the shields or security systems that had been stopping them from doing that very thing before now.

The X-Men had been teleported far enough out that they didn't have to worry about getting caught up in the blast, but that didn't change the looks of devastation and shock as they watched the Kree lay waste to their home.

By the time the Kree were finished, there was hardly anything left of the mansion, and the ships zoomed off again, leaving fires still burning in their wake but no other sign that the X-Men had been living there only moments before.

"Well, I guess it was time to redecorate anyhow," Bobby joked at an attempt to lighten the situation a bit, though no one even looked at him, still in shock at the destruction they had just witnessed.

"They got to Noh," Scott said at just over a whisper.

Beside him, Natasha couldn't help it when her eyes widened, even when she was trying to control her response. "We have to get to that prison.  _Now_."

"Where's the blackbird?" Scott asked Bobby — since he was the closest and seemed to have the best control of his facilities, if he was making jokes. "Was it in there?"

"Storm and Forge took it to go harass some Kree," Bobby replied. "Should be in the skies over the Atlantic right now shooting at aliens."

Scott nodded to himself as he looked over the shellshocked remains of his team. "All of the kids were gone, right? No stragglers?"

Bobby nodded. "Everybody's out for the summer — or out fighting. Even Hank's lab was empty today — but that's just luck," he added, gesturing at Hank, who had a bamf on each shoulder and was still holding a tube of something he'd been working on when they got him out.

"Then we'll find a different jet. I'll check out one of the Quinjets from the Avengers' stash or borrow one from SHIELD…" Natasha was already back in motion and clearly ready to go as she called up the Avengers to get a ride — but the response was clearly not what she expected.

"Widow! You're  _alive_? Where  _are_ you?" came the very frantic-sounding answer from Miles as he picked up the other line.

"I'm at the institute," Natasha said, her eyebrows up to her hairline as she listened to the youngest spider-hero losing his cool on the other end. "Or what's left of it."

"What's that supposed to — oh CRUD." Miles' voice was shaking. "Oh man, oh — this — this is really very not good. This is very bad. We were just gonna call  _you guys_ for help, but if you got hit too—"

"Miles," Natasha said in a patient tone that didn't match her expression. "Slow down. Tell me what happened."

"The Tower  _blew up_!" he half shouted back at her. "It blew up! Things like this are not supposed to happen. Right? I mean, this place gets overrun but — they blew it up! Right out of the sky! Some kind of alert went off, and the whole security system was  _screaming_ at us to book it, and I'm literally swinging to the next building when this heat wave hits, and if we'd been a few minutes later… It  _blew up_!"

Natasha's eyes were wide, but it was the only indication that she was shaken by the news as she nodded along to Miles' description of events. "Get yourself somewhere safe, and call Steve — tell him where you are, and he'll get everyone regrouping." She put a hand to her forehead to massage the space between her eyebrows. "Get somewhere safe. It looks like the Kree have broken our security codes, so for the moment, stay out of sight until we know how bad the breach is."

"Get Stark," Logan said suddenly. "Gotta move the little ones. If they got into the flight plans just before this mess started up — the Kree will know where to find them."

Natasha nodded as she called Tony up. "I'm sure he's got a hidey hole he can share," she agreed. "Or three."

As soon as Tony picked up — sounding a bit frazzled himself over the loss of the tower — Natasha filled him in, and of course, he agreed in a heartbeat. "I know a few places. Just patch the coordinates to my private account and I'll have them outta there in the time it takes you to say 'thanks, Tony,'" he promised quickly.

"I'll send you a few more when you're there," Scott said. "My wife's family is too close to this too."

"I'll probably add a few to the mix, too — Gerry and Dani… Jess is freaking out on me, barely got the kids out in time…."

"Sending coordinates to you now," Natasha replied, cutting Tony off from his rambling freakout. "And Tony — fly fast." She pocketed the comm and turned toward Scott with the most open look he'd ever seen from her. "They got to Noh — and they got to Clint. If we don't move now… they don't have a reason to keep them alive anymore," she said frankly.

Scott nodded, though he looked pale, knowing she was absolutely right. "Ready when you are," he said before he looked over at Kurt and Logan. "Can you get up to the helicarrier if we get the coordinates?"

"As long as the coordinates are correct, it shouldn't be a problem," Kurt said, looking to the bamfs for a moment, who nodded their agreement and looked ready to go, little tails switching behind them. Clearly, they wanted to pound whoever had destroyed their home. "But as long as it's close enough to  _see_ where I'm going …" He shrugged. "It might take two ports."

As before, the bamfs attached themselves to their cargo, and Kurt took a hold of Logan's shoulder once he had the coordinates. The first teleport got them close — and also falling a few hundred feet as Kurt reoriented himself and saw where he was  _supposed_ to be.

When the now-homeless X-Men all arrived on the helicarrier on the second teleport, it was in one of the side hallways, though Logan knew exactly where to go from there to get them to the bridge just a few turns down. It was enough that Fury likely knew they were coming before they arrived — though he didn't turn to even acknowledge them when they did get there, his attention on several screens in front of him.

"We've got a situation," Fury said solemnly. "You … should probably take a seat. All of you."

"We have just come from the rubble of our home — and Avengers Tower has been demolished as well," Kurt said with a deep frown and a look over his shoulder at Logan. "What now?"

Fury fixed him with a look before he switched the main screen to what he'd been watching before the little group had walked in. The Kree were making their announcement publicly, and it was obvious even through the lofty speech that they intended to make an example out of "the traitor, the Avenger, and the Accuser's murderer."

As they turned their attention to the screens, Laura made her way over to stand closer to Logan, particularly when she saw what kind of shape the captives were in.

The three prisoners were beaten up pretty severely, though the Kree had been sure to keep their faces in good enough condition for identification. Logan and Natasha were both clearly in shock when they saw it, though it seemed to transition into rage faster for Natasha, and when Laura tried to rest her hand on Logan's shoulder, he shrugged it off and took a few steps closer to watch.

"Where are they broadcasting from?" she demanded. "I need a jet and coordinates, and I'll break up this…  _zhemanstvo_."

"You won't get there fast enough," Scott said in a resigned tone. He'd seen how quickly Kree trials went down. This just wasn't good, no matter how you looked at it.

" _My ne mozhem stoyat' bez dela_ ," she half growled out Scott's way.

"This will be over before you hit the flight deck," Logan agreed quietly, looking like all the fight had drained from him at once.

She whirled to face Kurt, her gaze hard. "You can get us there. You and the  _besy_. We just need to know where to go,  _da_?"

Kurt looked torn as he glanced between her hopeful desperation and Logan's increasingly numb acceptance. "It … depends on where they are."

"All indications point to it being Ronan's personal vessel," Quartermain supplied for them. "We can't pin down coordinates with their new shielding tech ... not when it's in motion, anyway."

"And if I misjudge, we're both dead," Kurt said quietly. "Even if it's orbiting, it's moving too fast."

She turned to him with the unmistakable look of desperation only growing. "Then we just watch?" She let out a long breath as it was clear she was fighting for control before she let out a string of Russian swear words and simply sank into the seat beside Logan. " _Oni uzhe vyigrali_ ," she muttered just low enough for him to hear.

" _Da,_ " he replied just as quietly.

On the screen, Ronan was going on about the "superiority of the Kree Empire" and the "inevitability" of Earth coming under their control, along with several ridiculous claims about how "easily the rest will fall" and something about being "disappointed" that Earth's heroes were so lacking — that sort of thing.

The entire bridge was silent, watching the poorly disguised gloating, until Kamala — who had come up with the rest of the displaced Avengers — poked her head in the room, watched the feeds for a moment, and asked, "Is that… feedback?"

Logan cleared his throat a bit and shook his head. "No, that's my wife. Growling."

"Oh." Kamala looked surprised as she glanced his way. "It's … constant."

"I'd guess she's awful damn pissed off right about now," he said wearily, raising his hand to half cover his face. "She knows what's coming."

"I think everyone does," Scott said with a hard frown as Ronan approached K first, though all three of their friends were stuck fast and looked to be just ... waiting.

The growling on the screen got louder as he approached, but the three of them stood their ground, though K seemed to shift her shoulder just a bit when Ronan was nearly next to her.

"Do the accused have any final words?" Ronan asked with a smug smile on his face.

No one on the helicarrier was surprised when it was Clint who spoke up with, "You're televising this, right? Gotta be safe for all ages? My kid and my five-year-old partner might be watching? So ... guess I'm stuck with 'screw you'? Can't go too much stronger."

Ronan barely glanced his way at that commentary to turn his gaze on Noh. "And from the traitor? I wouldn't want any of you to miss what the others might say."

Noh settled his shoulders and had his chin in the air. "You speak of betrayals, but I have only ever done as I said I would. The same cannot be said of you," he all but snarled. "Or have you forgotten that a promise was made that these my friends would be safe?" With that, he spit at Ronan, the sticky, hallucinogenic substance hitting the Accuser helmet with a splat. It was thick and stayed glued to where it was — marring the regal look entirely — but it was only on the helmet, not enough to give Noh a shot at controlling him. And Noh paid dearly for the insult, shuddering as one of the Kree holding him pressed a device into his side that was clearly hurting him, even if he didn't say anything further or scream about it.

Ronan's eyes flashed as he stepped from Noh to K, but when it was clear she didn't have anything but glares and growls for him as she tipped her chin up defiantly, he addressed the other Kree at the trial with a grandiose gesture. "These three stand accused of crimes against the empire — of treason, murder, rebellion, and conspiracy against our cause," he announced. "The evidence of their guilt is overwhelming — the punishment for their crimes must be justly so." He was looking more and more smug as he reached for a long a ceremonial-looking sword.

K shifted her arms a hair further than she had before and popped her claws — right through her hip and into the cuff that held her other hand, breaking the energy restraints that held her arms down. In a mad rush, she flew at Ronan, and before he could raise the sword, she sunk one hand full of claws right into the center of his face and twisted hard, half attached to his corpse as he hit the ground. She was still growling — though a bit more audibly now that she'd let her lips part the slightest as she stabbed him again for good measure.

Several Kree rushed forward at her attack, but unlike Ronan, they didn't all have the protective and frankly cumbersome helmets, and while Noh was still restrained, he had good aim all the same. He nailed one of the Kree, the sticky spit dripping down the soldier's face. The soldier's eyes unfocused for just a moment — before he turned to attack his fellow soldiers.

K turned from Ronan to look over at her two friends and rushed by the fighting soldiers to wreck the restraints holding Noh and Clint both — neither of whom wasted any time in finding a weapon and starting the fight with her on the surrounding soldiers. Battered as they were, they weren't going to go down without taking as many of the Kree with them as they could. And considering the Kree were shocked by the loss of Ronan — and a few of them were hallucinating under Noh's command — all three looked set to tear the ship to pieces.

On the helicarrier, the entire bridge was silent when the feed suddenly cut entirely. Natasha and Logan both stared at the fuzzed out screen in surprise.

"Are you sure it wasn't her they were trying to copy?" Gabby said out of the corner of her mouth to Laura, who shot the younger girl a look before trying to join what  _had_ to be a rescue mission in the making.

"We're going  _now_ ," Logan said finally as he pushed back from the table. "Before something else goes wrong."

"We're taking the fastest jet you have," Natasha added as she and Logan fell into step together. It wasn't a request.

"I'm going with you," Fury said with a nod.

Neither Natasha nor Logan looked too surprised by that, though most of the others did. "You don't want to coordinate from here?" Scott asked, eyebrows raised the slightest bit as he tried to look less shocked than he sounded.

"I think I've coordinated from behind more than enough," Fury replied over his shoulder as the three of them headed off the bridge. "We have no idea what their next move is — all things considered. Ronan was about as high up as you can get, so I have no reference point as to what the protocol is in this scenario.  _If_ they even have one."

"I don't know that they do," Kurt said thoughtfully. "My understanding is that they considered Ronan nigh untouchable."

"Then let's break up their armies while they're still scrambling — after we get our people back," Natasha said through her teeth as she and Logan led the way at a quick pace toward the door.

But before they left the bridge, Logan was sure to turn and catch Kurt's arm. "I want the girls outta here. Send 'em to the safe house with the rest of the families."

"We can help," Laura insisted. "We have been fighting for years without needing to be sidelined."

But Logan wasn't hearing it at all, already shaking his head with his mouth drawn tight. "That's not the point. I don't want you in the middle of it if it goes south." He stopped fully and met her gaze. "And I'm not asking. If you want to help, go to the safehouse and tear apart anyone that tries to get to those kids. If you don't want to help — go anyhow."

Laura and Gabby both looked like they might argue the point, but considering how serious Logan looked, Gabby was the one to let out a little frustrated noise but agree all the same. "Fine, I  _guess_ we can go get full up on baby snuggles," she said, throwing her hands up in the air, though that really only earned her a dry look from Laura before she nodded too.

"Alright, but if you need us…"

"See you soon," Logan replied, simply turning to head out with Natasha.

* * *

Translations from Russian:

 _Zhemanstvo -_ "affectation" or "nonsense"

 _My ne mozhem stoyat' bez dela -_ "We cannot stand idle."

 _Besy_ \- "imps"

 _Da_ \- "yes"

 _Oni uzhe vyigrali -_ "They've already won."


	7. Charlie's Angels

The would-be execution had been televised over every frequency and into any place with a monitor or sound system, really — so even after Tony had tucked the small group of little ones away into a bunker he had designed in one of his fits of paranoid productivity, they could all see every second of what had happened, right up until the feed blacked out.

When the broadcast had started, Tyler had his hands full with little Elin, who was upset the moment she heard and recognized her mom growling — which, of course, just had Chance and Charlie upset as well, not only for Elin's sake but for Aunt K and Uncle Noh and Mr. Hawkeye on the screen.

With one twin attached to either leg and Elin in his arms, Tyler was pretty well pinned to his seat despite Annie's attempts to help. Nate and Hope managed to convince Charlie to let go eventually, but Chance was  _far_ to concerned about the upset baby.

 _Starts. So. Young,_ Hope projected to Nate, who let out a little snerk despite the seriousness of the situation.

And Remy had a tight hold of a very upset Kate and a positively  _livid_ Jubilee, who was muttering the whole time about 'stupid Kree' and how this was 'just like when that big creep crashed the wedding.'

Both of Annie's sisters were there by then, as well as Jessica Drew and Jessica Jones with their little ones. Dani and Annie's nieces were old enough to truly understand what was happening on the screen, and at one point, every single one of the parents there considered turning it off…

But on the other hand, no one could quite bring themselves to make that decision, not when Jubilee was hanging on every moment like a lifeline, waiting for something to go  _right_. Just one thing.

But the end of the broadcast had been, quite simply, abrupt. As soon as K struck out at Ronan, the quick fight to break free had only lasted a few moments before the feed cut out, and everyone in Tony's little bunker was left staring in open surprise at the now blank screen.

"Wha happen?" Charlie asked when the silence had stretched on for too long for her.

"I don't know, baby girl," Annie said soothingly, though her expression was still open surprise.

"All safe?" Chance asked, sounding just as concerned as his sister.

Again, all Annie could say was, "I don't know," though she quickly amended that when she saw the little lip quiver and the look of determination on his face to, "I think so. They'll be fine, honey."

"I'm sure Scott or Logan'll clue us in soon 'nuff," Remy said soothingly.

Kate still had a tight hold of Jubilee's arm as she nodded carefully. "They probably have way more intel than we do. For all we know, they're the ones that cut the feed to cut off communications before they stormed the place," she said, probably a bit over-optimistically.

"They got the bad guy," Leslie Ann agreed with a little smile. "Wham! Right in the face!"

Leslie Ann's mother looked up at Annie with a sigh. "Should I be concerned?" she asked lightly.

"Nope," Jessica Jones said before Annie could say anything, which had Jessica Drew smirking to herself — though her hands were full with Gerry fretting over his father on the screen.

"I think mebbe it's time to feed dis crew, non?" Remy put his hand out for Chance. "You want to help ol' Gambit fix up some supper?"

Chance regarded his hand for a second before he broke into a wide grin. "I help!" he agreed happily.

With that, Remy took the little ones with him to Tony's hidden kitchen in the bunker where he entertained them and gave them popsicles while they helped him cook while the adults got the chance to talk.

"Who was that ugly old blue windbag anyway?" Annie asked with disdain as soon as the twins were out of earshot.

"That would be Ronan the Accuser," Kate explained. "He sorta rules the Empire. Or ... he did."

"Well that's great, ain't it? I mean. If he's their leader ... then … we won, right?" Annie said with a hopeful look on her face.

"That… that's a good point," Kate said thoughtfully, looking over at Jubilee. "I mean… I don't think we  _won_  that easy? But… maybe?" She pushed out her lips as she thought it over. "I mean, there's still the stupid Supremor to consider, who's like, basically their god, but without an emperor to coordinate things… maybe?"

"Well … maybe we should send a care package to the Supremor," Jubilee suggested as she relaxed a little bit. The comedown from the terror of that broadcast was only just beginning, and she was certainly still worried about her idiot husband, but the execution hadn't happened. And that was something she could hold onto. "A nice bottle of wine and a pair of angry ferals. Seems to be a weak point in their planning."

"K could probably fit in the box too. The cheaper shipping kind," Kate teased lightly.

"Ooh, if we did it like that? And did it as a cake? And made her do the bikini jump out? I'm sure she'd be in a great mood by the time she got there."

"Yeah, the whole war would be over as soon as she jumped out of the cake. Five minutes later, no more Kree problems."

"Yeah," Jubilee said as she tipped her head back as far as it would go over the arm of the couch. "But then the whole Kree world would think our most elite fighters uniforms are two pieces?" She said with a smile. "And they'd be terrified to come to the beach."

"Well, more sand and sun for us then," Kate laughed.

"Excuse me? Why are you two jokin' around now?" Annie's sister, Rachel, asked.

"You haven't seen them right after rough missions," Tyler said with a little smirk. "This is mild compared to the usual decompressing."

"And you know... if the Kree were winning, we'd still be seeing footage," Kate pointed out. "That black screen means they don't want anyone to see them getting their butts kicked."

"And lord knows they have more than enough firepower up there to get their butts kicked. Those three?" Jubilee shook her head. "They asked for it picking them up."

"Seriously. Worst possible combination of stubborn and stupid and powerful and also stupid," Kate said, the smirk widening. "I mean. I'm clearly older than five, Clint. What is  _wrong_ with you."

"I could have sworn I heard Logan say you were about ready for Kindergarten," Jubilee agreed with a grin.

Kate gave her a dry look and gestured down at her growing stomach. "I think I'm a little bit past Kindergarten."

"Mentally," Jubilee said defensively. "Mentally. That's all. It's good to be younger in your mind, right? I mean … well. You have to be able to keep up with the kids, right?"

"True," Kate conceded. "Though my four-and-a-half-year-old self was pretty good with the bamfs, so I've got practice," she chuckled. She nudged Jubilee with her shoulder. "And you had practice with me. Maybe you'll get a little bitty, pigtails-wearing, black-haired, sparkly-shoes girl too."

"Well, with yours and K's, that'll make up the final member of the powerpuff girls," Jubilee said thoughtfully.

"I was gonna say Charlie's Angels," Kate said. "I mean. We have a Charlie and everything."

"That would totally work, and I am completely in favor," Jubilee said with a nod. But when the teasing trailed off from there, the smile slipped off of her face and she looked over to Kate with a look of growing concern. "Scott would tell us if something went wrong. I know he would." She frowned a bit deeper and took a breath and held it for a moment. "I hope nothing went wrong. I don't want to do this without Noh … and Logan  _can't._ "

Before Kate could reply to her on … well, anything, Tyler stepped into the room with a still very fussy Elin. "I can't get her to calm down," he said as he looked between the women who hadn't gone to help Remy with the small army of 'helpers'. "Please help."

Annie held out her arms for the little girl. "Let me try," she offered. "I've had a little experience — with two at a time sometimes," she added with a small smile.

He gratefully brought Elin to her and carefully handed her over, though the little girl was incredibly fussy and just plain mad. She didn't cry, though, and Annie did her best to settle her out. While she did fight Annie, a lot less than she had fought Tyler, she still wasn't her usual snuggly self, and it wasn't long before she was almost squeaking out these high pitched sounds of protest and scrunching up her little face.

And that was practically a cue for little Chance, who poked his head in from where he had escaped Remy in the kitchen. "Why sad?" he asked, eyes wide and curious.

"I think she just wants her mom and dad," Jubilee told him when he got close enough for her to ruffle his hair.

"Gone fightnin?" he asked, falling back on the phrase he and Charlie had started to use to describe X-Men missions.

"Yep," Jubilee replied with a little nod. "They had to beat up some bad aliens to keep everyone safe."

"All safe now?"

"We have to wait to see what your daddy says," Jubilee said softly.

"Otay." He gave her a little hug and patted her knee before he all but skipped over to where Elin was to try very hard to help his mom calm her down. He tried to pat her head like he usually did — with just one finger, very gently — and she reached over and pinched his nose with her very tiny hand. He giggled delightedly at that and booped her back in the nose.

All at once, Elin stopped fussing and blinked at him a bit before a crooked little smile popped onto her face and she raised one eyebrow as she reached out to pinch his nose again. She was rewarded with another round of giggles as Chance booped her right back. "Silly," he told her, still giggling.

She smiled at him for a little while before she squirmed a bit in Annie's arms again and finally let out a hitched sigh as she looked around the room.

"I'm not sure who's the worse flirt between them," Kate teased. "We're gonna have our hands full in about a dozen years."

"She's got a double dip of troublemaker," Jubilee pointed out. "I think you're giving her too much credit on time, too."

"What, you think she'll be a heartbreaker even sooner?" Kate laughed.

"I think she's working on it now," Jubilee replied.

"Please," Annie laughed. "My little boy's too young to have his heart broken."

"He'll be breaking hearts in twelve years," Kate teased. "And Charlie, too. Those brown eyes, Annie. Seriously. And the long lashes — watch out!"

"You're not wrong," Hope said with a little laugh from the door to the kitchen, crouching down to try to cajole Chance into joining the rest of the group. But she didn't exactly specify who it was that wasn't wrong, either.

Little Elin turned her head into Annie's shoulder and tried to snuggle into a tiny little ball, her hands tucked under her chin and her knees pulled almost all the way up to her chest.

"Ni-night, baby," Chance said, leaning over to give her a tiny kiss on top of her head before he skipped over to Hope and nearly threw himself into a hug so she could pick him up and carry her off.

With the main area much quieter, then, Kate let out a sigh and reached over to pull Jubilee into a hug. She didn't say anything, but she knew that her friend had to be just as worried as she was — moreso, really, because Noh was her  _husband_.

"We both have two idiots in this trouble," Jubes said.

"And they're all so very good at getting in trouble  _and_ causing it," Kate agreed with a small nod. "But they  _excel_ at getting out of it again."

"No kidding. I was sure that 'the curse' was going strong for a minute there," Jubilee said with a shaky voice as she blew out a breath. "Kinda glad we weren't around Logan for that part."

"Yeah, I don't imagine he was a party to be around," Kate agreed. "Probably downright terrifying right  _now_  though. Bet everything I've got if he's not there, he's on his way there."

"Oh," Jubilee said with her face scrunched up as she nodded. "No doubt. I'm just wondering who, outside of Scott went with. You know he's not going to let him go in alone when someone's between Logan and his lady.."

"I doubt Natasha's going to stay out. Not the way Clint was looking," Kate said with a small frown. "She won't say it, but... "

"Yeah. Worst kept secret in the biz," Jubilee said. "I'd tell you to give Kurt a call, but I'm guessing Iron Man might have a stroke."

"Yeah, I think he's bucking for more protective than our usual suspects. I mean, he won't win, but he's sure  _trying_."

"I'm sure if he saw the broadcast, he's afraid to screw up with us," she said with a little laugh.

"Yeah. Can you imagine him trying to explain how a couple pregnant ladies and their fellow babysitters beat up all the Kree while he was asleep on the protection job?"

"He'd never live it down — if he lived long enough to tell the tale."

* * *

Fury had wrangled a SWORD ship for the little rescue crew to head up and infiltrate Ronan's craft, where they knew the action had gone down. They were expecting some kind of fight — or, in the best case scenario, their three POWs resting in a cleared-out Kree ship — but neither was the case.

Once they docked and got inside … the number of dead Kree was impressive. But the silence in the ship was a bit foreboding. Logan only got a couple of feet inside before he had to cover his nose.

"Can't track 'em," he said, rubbing his nose hard. "Pepper in the air."

"That can't be an accident," Scott said with a frown.

"I doubt it," Logan agreed before they split off into pairs to search for their friends. Kurt and Logan headed toward the bridge, though they didn't know that's where they were headed. When they got there, they saw the area that had been used for the broadcast. There, in the center of the floor, lay Ronan — in an almost black puddle surrounded by dead Kree soldiers and Accusers.

Logan stood there glaring at the lot of them for a moment before Kurt drew his attention to the navigational systems. "We could probably figure out what their next moves are from here," Kurt suggested. "Once we find K and the boys."

"Yeah. Likely," Logan agreed. "I'm gonna … try to figure out how this went down." At that, he walked over to Ronan and tried to picture the order that the Kree had fallen — which wasn't really easy without his sense of smell on his side to let him track a path, but … he hoped if nothing else, the blood trail would make itself known, and he'd be able to slowly find where they'd gone.

Scott and Fury, meanwhile, found their way down to the brig, where aside from a handful of barely alive long-term prisoners, there were no witnesses to what had transpired there. Scott tried to question them, but naturally, they didn't speak a word of English, and he and Fury both grew tired of trying to figure out what the story was. So, they simply continued to search.

And Natasha and Peter were a bit disappointed to find that their path took them to what appeared to be the sleeping quarters.

"Nothing here but crusty jammies and warm milk gone cold," Peter remarked as he peered in one door. "What do you say, Mama Spider — time to look elsewhere?"

Natasha gave him the smallest of smirks. "That's not my call sign, and you know it."

"Yeah, but do  _you_?" he shot back, the teasing grin obvious even behind his mask.

She quirked an eyebrow at him and had to shake her head at his antics. "I'll start wearing a name tag, since you're so very confused."

"Any luck?" Logan asked Natasha, his gaze still to the floor trying to figure out the paths taken via bloody footprints as he and Kurt stepped around the corner. "I'm not findin' any survivors."

She shook her head.

"Nothing to report except that some of the Kree are worse slobs than Clint," Peter piped up.

"I don't think they're here," Logan admitted. "Place doesn't have any sign that our three troublemakers stuck around."

"Peter, maybe you could take a look at the computers?" Kurt suggested. "We'll look for the escape pods. They have to be here somewhere."

"Not down that way," Scott called out as he and Fury joined the group. "Couple of alien prisoners in the brig. No English or anything even close to what I can make out."

"Then we'll take this way," Natasha said with a determined nod. "We'll probably find them trying to hotwire a pod to take them home."

"I'm sure Noh would have that figured out easy enough," Logan agreed. "So we should find 'em quick — or at least some kinda sign that they left." He looked to Natasha for a moment before he tipped his chin up to her. " _My ikh naydem."_

She nodded and nosed down the hallway. All was still quiet — except for the echo of her footsteps, even as quiet as she could walk, until she heard slightly heavier footfalls a bit behind her. Fury was coming too. She tipped her head toward the director for a second before she went back to her search, stepping around the fallen Kree as she did so.

When they finally did find the escape pods, though, she examined every single one of them, twice before she had to admit that not only were their friends not there but that none of the pods had been launched — and it didn't look like anyone had even tried. She let out all her breath at once and, in a rare moment, lost her calm composure and simply kicked the side of one of the pods. " _Gde oni?_ " she muttered over and over again, running her hands through her hair for a moment before she felt one heavy hand on her arm and turned to see Fury giving her a  _look_.

She took one deep, calming breath and nodded twice before she straightened up. "Right," she said shortly. "Let's see what Peter has for us."

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Peter was working furiously on the computers and slowly shaking his head before he found a pattern. "I have their code," he said softly. "I have no idea what the heck happened to K, Noh, and Clint ... but … I have their code. We can hit them before they pull themselves together."

Kurt was encouraging him to keep going as Logan shook his head slowly, staring again at the fallen Kree. "It doesn't make any sense," Logan said quietly.

"There has to be a party we're not accounting for," Scott said thoughtfully. "If they didn't leave the ship in a pod, and they're not here — they had to have left somehow."

"Yeah, but who the hell's stupid enough to take 'em on after a show like this?" Logan asked. "The bodies all have signs that one of our three killed them. All of them. Claws or the energy guns. Occasional broken neck — a few collapsed sternums — gotta hand those to Noh. But nothin' earthly outside of the claw marks." He paused and let out a sigh. "And the pepper spray."

"Could be someone else besides Hawkeye was using the energy guns," Scott suggested.

"The body count's still pretty even though," Logan reasoned. "I doubt those two let her just go nuts on her own."

"Then maybe our third party arrived after the show was over," Scott offered. "There had to be one — I doubt any of the three of our friends carried the pepper spray around the moon prison."

He had to tip his head at that. "No telling what kind of shape they were in after the Kree were done with them either." He looked up at Scott with a frown. "Check the prison? Maybe another ship came up and took 'em back."

"It's a good place to start," Scott agreed. He glanced around the bridge and the carnage their friends had left behind and frowned. "Hard to tell the details from just the broadcast, but it didn't look like they started out in good shape — and then after this?" He let out a breath. "Whoever beat us here — our three might not have had much fight left by the time our mystery party got here," he admitted.

Logan ran one hand through his hair and nodded as Natasha and Fury stepped onto the bridge. He looked up at her, half holding his breath only to let it out in a disappointed sigh when she shook her head no.

"All the escape pods are still docked," she said. "There's no sign of any of them. Not even a frustrated shot in the door controls."

"Then our next stop is the moon base," Scott decided. "Peter, if you've got those codes, maybe we can speed things along once we get there — if we can't fight our way in, that is. I'd rather keep those in reserve if we can."

"Are we taking the shiny 'big man in charge' ship or …." Peter asked as he tapped into the system to copy what he could.

"That would certainly open doors for us," Natasha said with a smirk.

"Open them because of the prestige or the firepower? Because this thing … has got some serious firepower," Peter said as he shook his head to himself.

"Either will work," Kurt suggested. "If you can figure out how to work it."

"Scott can fly it," Logan said from the far side of the bridge, arms crossed and looking far too deep in thought.

"And with your codes — hopefully, they'll let us in." Kurt let out a sigh. "Though I doubt they'll let us back out again without a fight once we find our friends."

"I can live with that," Fury replied, already following Natasha out the door — since she'd had enough otf talking and simply decided to  _move_.

….

Translations from Russian:

" _My ikh naydem" -_ We will find them

" _Gde oni?_ " - Where are they?


	8. An Old Enemy

The truth was, the three former POW's had indeed run into some trouble after killing most if not all of those that had been in Ronan's craft. By the end of the battle, all three of them were getting sloppy, and when it was all over, both K and Clint had nearly collapsed in a hallway from both injury and exhaustion, where they both tried to catch their breath and half smirk to each other.

"I hate Kree environments," K panted out. "Gonna get the bends when we get out of here."

"Just so long as they don't stick me in one of those Star Wars tubes," Clint joked.

"Probably need it," she replied. "Oxygen enriched whatever. You know. So you don't stroke out."

"Made it this far," Clint said, leaning his head back against the wall.

"And it's a testament to Terran luck," Noh teased as he joined the other two, though he sat more gracefully rather than collapsing. He was absently chewing on some light fabric — as long as the material was organic, his body could use it as food to get him healing, and there weren't many choices there without breaking into the galley, which he didn't quite have the energy to do. Maybe later.

"Next time we end up getting interrogated? You two … just … just shut up," K said as she leaned her head back. "Neither one of you is fit to go through that."

"Hey — I've had worse," Clint defended. "Just never when I was also a  _dad._  Whole new world. Threw me off my game something awful — got zero training there."

"I noticed," K said nodding slowly. "I tried to help you."

"Which was very much appreciated," Clint added. He let out a long breath. "Should've held out longer, though sorry."

"You know how you say you should always listen to Nat?" K asked. "Well. When Nat's not around, listen to me."

He raised an eyebrow at her and leaned his head back to rest against the wall and close his eyes ."I'll take that under consideration," he said with a small smirk.

"Noh had to learn that the hard way, didn't you, star-kissed moon baby?"

"K, I have definitely learned to follow your lead," Noh agreed without even looking up. "I do appreciate having my intergalactic lawyer with me."

"Well as your counsel, I have to inform you that I don't believe that Ronan should be an issue any time soon," K said. "What's the protocol now?"

"Food," Noh said simply. "Unless you have any better suggestions?" he added with a teasing smirk.

"Delightful," she agreed before she stretched her leg out to give Clint a little kick on the bottom of his foot. "What say you, Avenger?"

"I say I could use a pizza," Clint agreed. "And a nap."

"Well, I can't speak for everybody, but  _I_ sure didn't bring a pizza," said a new voice as a few very recognizable figures came around the corner. Several of the kids from the school had somehow made their way up to the ship — and Brye was smirking at them with her hands on her hips. In fact, it looked like several of the students were there.

"You guys look rough," Rico added as Tammy offered Noh her hand with a quiet smile and Hisako helped her pull the Kree fighter to his feet.

"I forgot my lipstick," K teased. "Shameful I know. Are you guys with Scott?"

Tammy shook her head quietly and shared a look with Rico, who clicked his mouth for a second and then shrugged. "We haven't seen Scott since — since the semester ended."

"So you kids are playing hero all on your own now?" Clint asked, sounding a bit proud.

"Well, Hisako here  _has_ graduated. That's a mark toward joining the team for good," Noh pointed out as he wrapped up the girl in a warm hug. "It's good to see you all."

The kids all made their rounds — all smiles and hugs for their adult friends — and they chatted with them on the way to the docking station of the ship, though just before they reached it, K had to ask. "So if you're not with Scott — how the hell did you get here? Kitty?"

"Ah, no. She's still fighting the Kree up in space battles," Brye said, rubbing the back of her head.

"We didn't exactly come here with any of the X-Men," Rico explained as he almost sheepishly motioned around the corner, and the three adults simply stopped in their tracks when they saw who the kids had brought.

"I didn't realize you guys were looking for new recruits," K said as she looked over Osborn, Daken, and Maria Hill. "Or that you were out of jail. I'll be sure to pass the message on to Scott and Logan."

Clint had stepped slightly in front of Tammy, who was the smallest in the group. "Aren't these a little young for your usual recruits anyway?" he asked pointedly.

"You know the game, Mr. Barton — he who controls the minds of the future controls the destiny of the world," Osborne shot back.

"Yeah, that's not creepy at all," K said half under her breath.

Noh glared toward Maria Hill in particular. "I didn't think I would see you outside of the Cube for the rest of your life — if I ever lowered myself to visit that place."

She shrugged with a smug smile. "The perks of running SHIELD for so long. Not everyone there agreed with the charges." She looked a bit pleased with herself for a moment before she tipped her head toward the kids. "Get in the ship — we have places to be."

The three former Kree prisoners were surprised — and more than a little upset — when the kids slowly filed onto the ship. They shot the adults little rueful looks, but of course, that only had all three even angrier.

Daken was smirking as he watched the back and forth between the various members of the group, adjusting the mood of all of them very slowly to a much more relaxed state of being. "Like us or not, you all need to get off of this ship before the Kree shoot it out of the sky," Daken said as he took a step forward. "You look like you're ready to fall down." He was speaking to all of them, but he had his focus locked onto K. He took a step forward and reached for her arm. "Come on, you'll stay with me."

Noh stepped toward him and glared hard. "She will not.""

"You all need to be  _supervised_  around these children," Daken said. "It makes sense for her to go with me if you think about it for five seconds." He smiled wickedly at Noh. "Family, after all."

"Only on paper," Noh shot back, arms crossed over his chest

"Which is more than you can say," he replied as he closed the gap between himself and K, simply stepping around Noh to do so. He took her bare arm and pulled her forward, only to scoop her up — clearly just to make Noh angry. It only made matters worse that she didn't fight or argue with him in the least, too tired from the fight and the pheromones.

"You can't — put her down," Noh spluttered as Clint beside him eyed Norman up and down and then made a face.

"I can walk on my own thanks," Clint said almost lazily, far more affected by Daken's calming manipulations than Noh. He shrugged past Osborne to head for the door to the ship. "You can keep your hands and your hair to yourself."

"I don't think that'll be an issue, Mr. Barton," Osborne half growled.

Noh looked distressed over the whole situation. More so when he clearly heard K asking Daken in a very sleepy tone where he was. "I can't leave Noh," she said softly.

Noh let out a small sound of alarm and concern before he had to run to where K was. "I won't let you leave me behind," he assured her and steadfastly ignored the looks anyone was giving him — he could reason out for himself what was happening.

"Are you planning to watch over her while she sleeps as well?" Daken asked.

"If any of  _you_ are in the same room, I will be there," he shot back.

"Oh, I'm not setting her down," he replied. "Like I said — she's  _staying_ with me." He gave Noh a little smirk and made his way over to a very comfortable-looking loveseat on Osborn's ship and sat down, letting K stretch out a bit — though he didn't let her go. "Chaperone," he said as he pointed to himself then readjusted his grip on her. "Go find yours."

"I don't need one." Noh crossed his arms obstinately as he settled into the nearest seat. "It's  _you_ who needs supervision."

"Are you trying to insinuate that I might have less than honorable intentions?" Daken asked with a laugh as it was clear that K had already passed out with her head on Daken's chest.

"I am simply following the pattern of past evidence. And she is no longer with child," Noh pointed out. "And to be frank, I simply don't trust you."

Clint was well on his way to passing out too but flashed a thumbs-up Noh's way. "Atta boy, Marvel Kid," he said tiredly. "Keep 'em honest," he added before he followed K's lead, leaning against the side of the plane as he sank into unconsciousness.

Daken glanced to where Norman and Hill were talking before he turned toward Noh and spoke just loud enough for him to hear. "I'm not going to do anything to her but get her back to my father."

Noh raised an eyebrow but spoke in the same low tone. "I doubt your traveling companions have the same intentions."

"Too bad for them," Daken said low. "That baby needs her mother back and I have no use for fruitless power plays."

At that, Noh actually cracked a small smile. "On that we can agree."

"For the sake of those two idiots, though — pretend like I'm trying to get in her pants," Daken said before he readjusted the way K was leaning on him and smirked up at Noh. "Run along now," he said at a normal volume.

"I've nowhere better to be," Noh replied after a beat, surprised to find himself genuinely on Daken's side — and on the same side when it came to protecting K. He settled into a bit of a glare toward Daken, but for the first time, he actually had to force it.

* * *

Peter had been right about Ronan's ship — it had some serious firepower.

The group of would-be rescuers came screaming down toward the moon prison with their weapons ready when it was clear even before they got close enough to hail the prison that talking their way inside just wasn't going to be an option.

The prison itself was in chaos. It seemed some of the Kree were fighting among themselves, and as the little crew in Ronan's ship approached, some of the Kree ships approached to defend them — while others turned to fire on them.

"Must be a feud over leadership," Scott said with a small frown as he piloted them so that they were well-protected by their willing escort but still in a position to run away from the line of fire if the Kree protecting them figured out that they weren't actually the survivors of Ronan's crew.

"I wonder if the same thing is happening with the forces on Earth," Kurt mused quietly. "If so — it could be enough to begin to route them and put an end to this invasion."

"We'll see for ourselves once we get our friends back," Natasha said over his shoulder, adjusting the bracelets she was wearing a few times as she glared at the moon-based prison they were approaching.

On their way down to the moon's surface, they blasted through the Kree that attacked them, though with the addition of Ronan's prize ship, it seemed that those Kree that weren't on the side of whoever was considered to be Ronan's replacement — or at least whoever was loyal to him still — were smart enough to realize the battle was turning and quickly high-tailed it out of there.

Of course, that was only going to last so long, considering the Kree were going to figure out the deception the second they stepped out of the ship, so as soon as Scott put them down on the landing pad at the prison, the entire group of them were ready for a fight. They had really been raring to go since they left Earth, and with so many delays to a real fight, Logan and Natasha in particular looked like they were ready to start tearing people apart.

Predictably, as soon as the Kree who had so helpfully escorted them down saw that they were not, in fact, Ronan's crew, they started to fire on them, and the little group of rescuers quickly took cover and returned fire, taking down plenty of soldiers with everything from web fluid to optic blasts as they made their way to the entrance to the cells.

"We'll keep them occupied," Scott told Natasha and Logan over his shoulder. "You take Kurt and see if you can find the others."

The three of them didn't need to be told twice, and in a swirl of indigo smoke and a flash of light, they disappeared. When they reappeared past the line of resistance, they dove into the search — though Logan was already frustrated. Kurt was getting more headway in the busting skulls department, since many of the Kree on the ground seemed to be trying to avoid Logan all together. "This is not how this is supposed to work," Logan growled out, though he managed to get a set of claws through one Kree's chest.

"It almost looks like a conditioned response," Natasha observed, not even trying to hide her smirk. "To growling."

At that, he glanced her way, and for the first time in a  _long_ time, he let out a bit of a half-hearted chuckle. "Still not happy about it."

"Save that for when we catch up with the other growling terror," she agreed as she electrocuted a Kree who thought he was sneaking up on her. "Until then, you've every right to keep on with the unsettling growling. I think they're easier to fight this way. Thrown off."

"May as well, not like I can  _stop_  at this point," he muttered loud enough for her to hear it.

She shot him a small sort of smirk and then pressed on after Kurt, who was simply cutting them a path as quickly as he was able and seemed to be focused on finding the fastest way to reunite Natasha and Logan with their loved ones. A few of the bamfs were helping him, breaking into anything that looked locked — while a couple others were hovering by Natasha and Logan with little concerned expressions and drawn swords.

They tracked their way deeper into the prison. Logan led the way only stopping from time to time with his eyes closed tight as he sifted through the scents in the air and on the surfaces around them. Eventually, they found their way to where the three had been held — both separately and together where Zarek had worked them over. The bloody evidence was pretty overwhelming. "Old scents," he said with a frustrated look.

Natasha froze for an instant, then went into a near rage trashing whatever she could — which truly didn't amount to much, considering how the place was built. She was ready to destroy what looked like a workbench when she froze on spotting Clint's phone and wallet — with bloody fingerprints on it. When she looked at the other items on the table that clearly were not Kree, she realized that all three of them had their phones, communicators and anything else that looked to the Kree like it might be useful liberated from them — and all of them were bloodied up.

She called over Logan and Kurt, who both looked the items over as Logan furrowed his brow on seeing the fingerprints and slowly shook his head. "None of the scents from ours is fresh. They would have taken this stuff on the first day," he pointed out. "We're backtracking."

She met his gaze for a moment, wide-eyed on hearing it. "The comms and phones may be old, but .. the rest of it… they didn't keep them here on just the first day," she returned. "Maybe they were here and — and the Kree haven't brought them back yet." Even as she said it, she knew it sounded flimsy, and she usually wasn't one for flimsy hopes. But she was just… so frustrated and feeling downright impotent.

"The  _scent_ is old," Logan repeated. "Even with all the blood — it's faint. So they haven't been here in a while. Well before the stupid broadcast."

She let out a frustrated shout and tossed one of the bloodiest instruments across the room — and it embedded in the wall — before she looked back at Logan with an openly worried expression. "Then where  _are_ they?"

He shook his head, half staring at the floor. "I don't know — but they didn't die here or on the ship," he said with a deeply settled scowl. "If they had ... why .." he took a moment to pinch the bridge of his nose in a last ditch effort to draw in a calming breath. But when the air was laced with the scents of blood, and pain, and even fear … Logan let out a frustrated snarl as what little control over his emotions snapped, and out of sheer frustration, he began shredding the place.

Not long into it, a couple of Kree soldiers came by, headed toward Scott and Fury and Peter no doubt, but they froze when they saw the three of them destroying the torture room. Their sudden appearance caught Logan's attention, and he locked gazes with them for a split second before they turned to run — which was the stupidest thing they could have done with an enraged predator. There was no way in hell he was going to let any more of them get away.

Logan dashed off behind them, barreling toward them and intent on tearing them into itty bitty pieces. He only got a set of claws into each of them, though, before Scott called out for him to stop. "The battle's over — the ones that are left are  _friendly._ "

Logan met Scott's gaze and twisted his wrists. Twin cracks echoed the halls before the two Kree began to scream.

Natasha looked like she absolutely didn't believe Scott. " _Druzhelyubnyy_?" she spat out. "To be working in this place?"

It was crystal clear that Logan was in agreement with Natasha, and simply continued on his intended plan with the two Kree under his knees, cutting and gouging into them with a scowl.

"Knock it off, Logan — we're wasting time staying here," Scott pointed out, trying to reason with him.

"If the shoe was on the other foot, you'd be doing the same damn thing, so stuff it," Logan growled out before he'd finished up what he'd started with them.

"And you'd be trying to point me back on track," Scott countered.

Logan stopped cold, and all the growl seemed to worsen for a moment as Logan pushed himself to gain control again. A few hair raising moments later, the growl began to dissipate as he finally nodded. "We were backtracking coming here," Logan told him after a moment. "Whoever got them took them off Ronan's ship."

Scott nodded his understanding and frowned deeper. "Let's get back to the helicarrier — see if they've got any intel on our third player," he offered. "We're not going to find anything here, and we didn't find anything on the ship."

"We found plenty — just none of it  _useful_ ," Natasha muttered half under her breath.

When Scott looked to Kurt in an unasked question, Kurt sighed and produced one of the phones to show Scott — the sparkling one Jubilee got Noh so she could contact him in more Earthly ways. "We found where they were keeping them. And where they were… interrogating them," he explained, his voice slightly raspy as he was clearly a step away from rage as well.

Scott let out a breath as he looked between the three of them and the little collection of tech. "Alright, well — we'll still find a way to track them," he decided. "Let's go and get cleaned up. Find out if SHIELD or SWORD caught anything. And in the meantime, if the Kree are falling apart on Earth like they are here, then maybe we can check in on our hidden away group. I'm sure they all need to hear from us too."

The other three shared a quick glance between them before they had to nod their agreement. It was the best plan they had — the only plan, really. And besides, even if none of them would say it, it would do them all good to see their hidden families.

"But before we go though— you need to clean up," Scott said with the tiniest ghost of a smirk. "I won't have you three scaring the kids looking like you do."

"We'll clean up on the helicarrier," Natasha said simply. "This place has seen enough of blood down their drains, and I won't add to it."

Scott tipped his head her way and sighed. "Alright. Let's just ... get going."

As they filed out, Kurt rested his hand on Logan's shoulder and half led him out as it was clear that the steam was well out of his sails now. "Don't worry," he said softly. "They aren't dead — we would have found them otherwise. There's still hope to find them,  _mein Freund_."


	9. Chain of Command

Inside Tony's hidden bunker, Kate was having a particularly miserable time. Her little girl was being wriggly that evening, and no matter what Kate tried, she couldn't get comfortable — and it was only worse when the little one kept  _kicking_ her bladder.

Jubilee was a sympathetic friend and had helped her make it all the way to the couch from the bathroom after the fifth or sixth trip when she was feeling  _worn out_  — though Jubilee herself was a little green around the gills. Tyler had checked her over when she wasn't keeping anything down at all, and according to his scan, the little half-Kree was growing faster than would be the case for a normal human pregnancy. Which wouldn't be a problem for a genetically enhanced Kree from Noh's home dimension — but for Jubilee, it meant a whole lot of misery and being sick.

So she and Kate were getting pretty good at taking care of each other. After all, they could both empathize. But when the message came in from Tony that they could expect visitors, both Jubilee and Kate cheered up immensely — Kate especially, since Tony said Kurt would be one of their visitors.

But of course, no one in the room missed the fact that in the list of visitors ... not a one of the names was one of the people who had been on the televised near-execution.

Kate grabbed hold of Jubilee's hand and squeezed it hard for a second. "Logan and Scott will fill us in," she said, repeating the same promise Jubilee had been telling herself like a mantra since that horrible broadcast. Jubilee nodded and squeezed her hand back, but didn't say anything.

As they waited for Tony to let their visitors past all his security measures, Gambit was sitting with Dani, who had more or less pinned him down to tell him very importantly about how she was going to start Kindergarten this year and "Miss Annie" had said if they had to stay in the "Stark House" for too long, she'd teach her Kindergarten things to make sure she wasn't behind when she was able to go to school. He could hardly get a word in edgewise but didn't seem to mind in the slightest.

Gerry was giving his mother a hard time; he didn't seem to want to actually eat his dinner and kept trying to play with his new best friend, Chance. And Elin was watching the whole thing from Tyler's arms with a scrunched up nose and a very K-like expression; and until then, she had been absolutely no problem for Tyler when it came to taking her bottle.

Annie's nieces and nephews were in more or less a dogpile on Anton as they ran around playing with him, though Chance was bouncing close to Gerry, already done eating and ready to go back to playing "gone fightnin." And Charlie had parked on Hope's lap, perfectly content to play quietly and giggle delightedly every time Hope would go "in my head."

When the door finally opened to admit their visitors — everyone that had gone to the moon prison except Fury, who was trying to get a handle on the new status of the Kree as well as a fix on where their three friends could possibly have been taken — Annie was the first to the door to simply fling her arms around Scott's neck and kiss him.

The twins weren't far behind, with little shouts of "Daddy!" echoing the enclosed room as they took a leg apiece. Scott had a very hard time getting much further than the doorway — though he didn't look the least bit bothered as he soaked in the hugs from his family.

He was, however, surprised to see Nate and Hope there, and he blinked at them a few times before he broke into a smile. "When'd you get here, Nate?" he asked.

Nate smirked as he got to his feet to help Scott at least get out of the doorway — though the twins reattached to Scott's legs almost as fast as Nate got them to let go. Not that Nate was trying all that hard when he was honestly enjoying the look on Scott's face with his family. "Been here since the invasion started, more or less," he told Scott.

"He's been amazing," Annie said warmly, keeping a hand on Scott's arm even as she beamed at Nate. "I've already told him that he's  _required_ to come more often," she added with honest affection in her tone that had Nate smirking a bit to himself.

 _Somebody's been adopted by the stepmom,_ Hope all but sang to him telepathically when she saw it.

Nate gave her a dry look, though not even that could hide the smirk.  _You act like that's breaking news._

 _Maybe not, but you love it,_ Hope projected back to him, earning a smile and a light sort of chuckle — especially when Annie, completely oblivious to the telepathic conversation going on around her, pulled her arm through Nate's while Scott had his hands full with the twins trying to literally climb him.

"Oh, that's my favorite look on him," Annie said, her gaze on Scott as he half wrestled the twins into hugs.

Nate had to laugh at that — there was no other possible reaction.

Meanwhile, Gerry followed the twins' lead, running right to Natasha to hug her around the knees — though he didn't quite go so far as to park himself on her leg. "Tasha!" he declared happily.

She seemed surprised for a second before she bent down to pick up the little boy and give him a small hug. But when she went to put him back down so he could eat his dinner, he refused to let go, and she ended up simply sitting at the table with him in her lap as he babbled to her about "Tance" and how they were best friends and how Chance was learning how to say Gerry's name. "He calls me Gawy!" Gerry giggled delightedly.

"That's because he's still a year younger than you are,  _lyubimaya_. He hasn't learned everything you have," Natasha explained patiently as

He beamed at her while Jess very sneakily was getting him to eat while his attention was distracted. "No worry; I teach him," Gerry promised.

Natasha beamed at the little boy, her expression absolutely melting for a moment before she looked over the top of Gerry's head to see Jess meet her gaze in a silent, unasked question. Very quietly, and very carefully, she shook her head the slightest bit, and Jess was able to frown much more openly than Natasha could as she kept pushing Gerry's sandwich toward him to eat and he wasn't looking at her face.

And as for Tyler, he waited until the rush of little kids to the door was over before he got up to meet Logan, Elin still tucked into his arm, though she was already starting to wriggle when she realized that her dad was there.

Logan picked her up, and the little girl simply melted into his neck, making little sweet baby noises and patting his shoulder as he snuggled her in. "Thanks, Ty," Logan said softly before he found a chair to sit down with the little one, who was very clearly happy to see him. Their reunion was a bit quieter than the others, and Elin seemed mostly content to rub her face into Logan's neck and make little noises. She was really only letting her voice be heard with her breathy little coos in a long string, which Logan answered with a soft, low little rumble that had Elin snuggling down that much deeper.

He wasn't alone with her for long though as Laura drifted closer, looking almost hesitant to interrupt them, but when Logan glanced up at her looking so incredibly dejected, she sucked in a little involuntary breath and sat down next to him to curl in. She wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as Gabby was, though. The little girl made her way over as well, and she quickly took up his other side, smirking to herself when Logan lifted up his arm to let her in a little closer, since she was on his free side.

Kurt meanwhile had gone right to slide in next to Kate, who just didn't have the energy at the moment to get up and go to him — but as soon as he was close enough, she did pull him down to snuggle into him very tightly. "You guys all look beat," she told him frankly, though very quietly so the little ones wouldn't hear, and he smiled tiredly at her for a moment.

"It has been a long few days," he admitted before he kissed the top of her head. "And you?"

"I'm fine," she said, waving her hand. "Unless you count the fact that I'm getting very tired of sharing space with a little acrobat. Those are  _your_ genes."

Kurt broke into a wide smile at that. "That they are," he agreed as he rested a hand on her stomach and was almost immediately rewarded with the kicking Kate had been enduring all day. His eyes widened, and so did the grin, as Kate looked down at her stomach and shook her head.

"She's been practicing somersaults all day," she said, and Kurt just laughed and brought her hand up to his lips for a moment.

"Well, I'm truly sorry that my genes are causing you such discomfort," he said, though his expression was not at all apologetic.

"You are a terrible liar," Jubilee informed him on her way past the two of them to snuggle in next to Logan, Elin, and the girls. Which was perfectly fine by Gabby — who hadn't been able to get enough of watching the little one kick Jubilee from the inside out.

"But a wonderful flirt," Kate told him in a low whisper that had him chuckling as he kissed her gently.

The mood in the room was well and truly snuggly as Peter made his way through it — past Dani, who insisted on a hug from Uncle Spidey, and the twins, who wanted high fives — until he found a spot to grab a bite to eat and to down an entire water bottle before he noticed the expectant look that Jubilee was giving every single member of the little rescue party. At that, he let out a little puff of breath and ran his fingers through his hair. "Sorry, Jubes — we didn't find them," he admitted very quietly. "But Fury's got SHIELD and SWORD and everybody trying to figure out where they went after they totally wrecked Ronan's ship all on their own."

Jubilee huffed at that and took a hold of Logan's hand — and Logan was sure to give her a good squeeze as well. The group of them seemed settled in pretty well — Elin was quietly cuddling into her father, while Gabby made herself comfortable and Laura awkwardly tried to relax even half as much as either Gabby or Jubilee. It wasn't too long before Elin quit trying to eat Logan's face and began to smile at him and the other girls, which at least raised the girls' spirits a little bit.

Kate and Kurt were still deeply nestled in the couch as Kurt tried to help Kate get more comfortable and muttered in German at the little one to please settle down so Kate could  _function_ a little better, but he was completely derailed in his efforts when he let out a little "oh!" of surprise as he felt something moving just under Kate's skin.

She grinned at him outright and lifted the fabric of her shirt so he could see more clearly what looked like a small snake pushing at the edges of Kate's stomach. "Yep. That's her tail," Kate said when he couldn't seem to find any words for the situation other than to stare at her stomach with a huge grin. She let out a breath when the little girl kept wriggling around and shook her head again, looking down at her stomach. "Alright, Kristina, you've said hi to Dad, now please go to  _sleep_ or something."

"Kristina?" Logan said quietly, picking his head up from where he was snuggled with his girls just enough to meet Kate's gaze across the room.

Kurt grinned over the edge of the couch at his friend. "That's what we've decided to call her," he said, looking absolutely delighted. "We felt we should find a name that started with K, for some reason," he added with a teasing sparkle to his gaze.

Logan gave him a little smile as he nodded his head. "It fits both of you, but I'll be callin' her Krissy."

Kate laughed at that. "Hear that, Kristina?" she told her stomach. "Not even born yet and you've already got a Logan nickname."

"It's because she's a Wagner," Kurt said with a little laugh of his own. "It was all but guaranteed."

"It's because that's a mouthful for such a little Elf," Logan replied.

"Well, heaven knows I don't use  _my_ full name," Kate said, still chuckling. "So I'm all for it."

"Maybe I should just call you Katherine from here on out when you're in trouble," Logan teased.

She turned so she could better face him over the edge of the couch so he could see the  _look_ she was giving him. "Don't do that," she said.

"What's your middle name?" he asked with a smirk.

"Like I'd tell you," she shot right back.

"Kurt'll tell me later," Logan said as he leaned back and shifted, allowing Laura to try to cuddle in closer.

"Sorry, Logan — but I've been sworn to secrecy on that count," Kurt said with a wide and teasing grin.

"Well then I'll have to ask Zoe," he replied easily. Elin was settling in finally — clearly relieved and far more relaxed than she'd been in quite a while. "Or JJ. I'm sure he knows."

"Don't," Kate said, pointing her finger at him warningly. "Don't give JJ that ammunition."

"It can't be as bad as the other Hawkeye's middle name," Natasha said reasonably from across the room.

"No kidding," Logan agreed. "Come on. If I had one, I'd tell you what it was. This one is Elin Annika."

"And this is Kristina Elli," Kate replied, gesturing at her stomach.

"Elli? What's that short for?" Jubilee asked.

"It's German," Kurt said with a soft smile. "A shorter form of the name Elizabeth."

"Shortened version is pretty," Logan replied softly, though he lost a touch of his steam.

"Well of course — this from the man who immediately shortened her first name," Kate teased.

"I'll come up with something more fitting when she's actually here," Logan promised.

"I don't know," Kurt said thoughtfully. "If she is anything like her mother, I think 'Krissy' will fit her well anyway," he added before he gave Kate a teasing grin and kissed her forehead.

She had just opened her mouth to tease him right back — and probably point out that she wasn't the only one with troublemaking genes to contribute here — when the door opened again, this time to admit Tony. He waved in greeting to the gathered group but waited long enough for the door to close before he explained, "SWORD got a ping on a ship that went up to Ronan's craft after all that mess — and before you guys did."

"What do you know?" Logan asked.

"Surprisingly little, actually," Tony admitted. "Not too much SWORD could get from it."

"Well was it a Kree ship or …" Jubilee asked.

Tony shook his head. "It had some Kree tech, but it was definitely Earth-made," he said. "SWORD was able to track them back to Earth, but whoever this is must've stolen that new shielding from the Kree, because they lost the signal somewhere over the Pacific."

"But you think they're here?"

"Looked like they were headed in for a landing," Tony said, nodding. "If I can get my hands on more of that shielding, I could find a way to get past it and give you something better."

"Pretty sure Slim can give you Ronan's ship if it'll help," Logan told him.

"She's all yours," Scott agreed quickly. "Anything you can use to find them."

Tony nodded gratefully and looked excited at the prospect of a new toy before he added, "It looked like they were headed stateside with the trajectory projections, but I can't be sure they didn't double back on their path after their shielding activated."

"At least it's not Canada," Kate teased, though she regretted the little tease when she saw Logan's expression darken at the possibility.

Tony shot her a smirk. "Well you never know. Could be. Just because they were headed toward the US doesn't mean they couldn't swing north." He shook his head and then looked around the room. "Anyway ... I'll get started on the Kree shielding and let you know what I find, but I thought you guys might like to know at least they're not in space."

"When you get a little more narrowed down, let me know," Logan said softly. "And if it  _is_ a little further north …" He took a moment to try to hold his temper, even though a growl laced his words. "I'm going to need more explosive rounds for that rifle."

"I'll get you whatever you need," Tony promised. "I'm just gonna head out then, but I'll stay in touch. You're first on my list to tell when I find something." With that, he quickly waved at the others and headed out the door before Logan could request anything more dangerous.

It was a relief to hear that their friends weren't still with the Kree, but the mood in the hideout was only slightly improved by Tony's report. After all, that only left an  _entire planet_ to search, what with Tony saying that there was every possibility they could have changed course after they engaged the shielding. Stateside was a direction — not a guarantee. And even that still left a whole country to search.

Still, for the moment, that meant that there was nothing to do, really, but to settle in and wait for more information.

Finally, after what felt like too long a period of silence punctuated only by the littlest kids, Jubilee sat up and pulled out her cell phone to snap a picture of her mentor half asleep with Elin on his chest. It had been a stressful time — but Logan curled up with a tiny little Wolverine was too much to pass up. When the shutter went off, he cracked an eye open to look her way, which of course just got another picture and a grin from Jubilee — and another one on top of that when Gabby insisted that she wanted one too, complete with an excited sort of point as she made bunny ears behind Laura's head while her big sister was herself half asleep in the snuggle pile.

"Come on. You honestly can't blame me," she said in defense before she punched a few buttons to send to him. "You'll thank me for that later." She half snuggled in again before she realized that there was no chime.

"You … you let your phone go dead," she accused him.

"I was a little busy," he defended, but Jubilee had her hand out and was glaring at him already as she began to dress him down for ignoring the texts that she had sent — all because he was  _lazy_ about charging up. "I swear to GOD, some people just do not need technology," she complained as she took his phone to the charger.

She stopped halfway back to the gathered group and tried to lighten the mood a bit. "Okay guys! Taking bets. How many missed messages does Logan have on his super dead cell phone?"

"Considering Billy and Teddy have his number? Gotta be in the hundreds," Kate teased.

"Pick a number, Hawkeye," Jubilee said. "Whoever's closest picks the movie tonight."

"Let's go ... two hundred?" Kate offered.

"There's no damn way," Logan said with a shake of his head.

"You haven't been on a team with those two," Natasha pointed out. "I say one fifty."

"I'd also like to point out that Wade has his number too," Kurt said. "If you're figuring in numbers."

"Ooh, that puts the tally up to three hundred for me. Four if Wade was bored," Peter said with a laugh.

"Can only make one pick, Spidey," Jubilee said as she shook her finger at him.

"Then four," Peter said. "Four hundred, not four — because I know you'll try to say that later," he added quickly.

"Kate do you want to change your bet?" Jubes said. "I'm taking four thirty."

"I'm good at two hundred," she said contentedly. "Since I'll probably be in the bathroom for half the movie anyway with how the little Elf has been behaving — so no worries if I guess wrong."

"Five hundred," Kurt called out. "I know how insistent most of your messagers will be."

"Oh, come on now," Logan said with a dry look at his best friend. "That's … no."

"We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" Kate sang out delightedly.

"I have to admit; it will depend a lot on how long it's been dead," Jubilee said before she made the rounds taking everyone's bets — and cackling delightedly at Gabby's suggestion that there were a thousand of them.

* * *

Noh was absolutely livid as he rubbed the arm band  _someone_ had placed on him while he was resting and recovering and  _healing_. He knew exactly what it was, and he wasn't happy about it in the least — nor was he happy about the fact that he'd seen some of their young rescuers walking around out of uniform and knew that they were similarly outfitted.

This was  _not_ a burden to be placed on children.

He was still steaming as he turned the corner to find that Clint was sitting very quietly in a chair.  _Sitting_  in the chair — not with his feet up or sprawled across it like usual.

Noh was sure the archer was upset about the bands as he was, and he slid a chair across to sit near Clint. "I've dealt with these before," he started to explain, but Clint looked up for a second, and the  _devastated_ expression on his face stopped Noh cold. "What — what's happened?" he asked quickly, entirely disarmed now.

Clint shrugged up just one shoulder and glared hard not at Noh but at the floor. "Shoulder's shattered," he explained tersely. "And all that time with the Kree ... it didn't heal right."

Noh frowned hard as he very quickly understood the problem. "And our current captors…?"

"Fixed me up to fight, yeah," Clint muttered out. "Got a nice gun with my name on it if I play nice. And a sword. Know how to use those. No bow, though." He rolled his shoulder for a second. "Might as well be Ronin again for all the use I'd get out of it. Shoulder's pretty well screwed even if they cared to do the surgery. Which they don't when it's not a sure thing."

Noh stared at Clint for a moment, completely unsure what, if anything, he could say. "I'm… I'm sorry, Clint," he said at last.

Clint glared harder at the floor. "Price of being in this business," he told the floor. "Apparently, docs said I'm lucky I got off this  _easy_. Could've been a lot worse."

"Well, it's best not to dwell on what could have been," Noh said quietly before the door opened, and both men looked up to see Tammy standing in the doorway with an almost apologetic look on her face.

"I'm supposed to come get you both," she explained.

Clint and Noh shared a look between them that clearly communicated what they thought of Hill and Osborn using kids as messengers before they both turned to Tammy with much softer looks and nodded.

She tried for a smile at both of them. "You guys look much better," she said, and she sounded entirely, sincerely pleased, so they must not have looked good at  _all_  back on the Kree ship, all things considered.

"Smoke and mirrors," Clint told her, waving his hand. "The magic of a shower."

"Well, I'm glad you're at least fixed up," Tammy said. "We saw what happened ... with Ronan? And that was majorly awful, so… you look  _much_ better now."

The two men shared a look between themselves again and decided not to comment as they arrived at what had once been a SHIELD briefing room — when the facility they were in was run by the legitimate SHIELD.

Hill and Osborne were already seated and looking smug, and Clint was quick to bite out, "Didn't figure on you two being so chummy, seeing as he's the one who kicked you out of a job when he was running things, Hill. What, you two make friendly in prison?"

"Some of us are capable of being professional," Hill shot right back at him.

"You made that word up," Clint said as Tammy tried very hard to hide her giggle on the way out the door. And he couldn't help but smile at her reaction. After all, none of the kids there had asked to be part of this crap — might as well make them laugh.

Hill gave him a dry look and rolled her eyes. "Moving along... we have a job for the two of you I'd like to discuss."

"We're not interested," Noh said flatly.

"Interested or no, it needs to be done," she said easily. "But I'll wait to explain the fine points of our system until the last of your little entourage gets here."

"Fashionably late. She's just like that," Clint said in an easy tone that didn't match the glare he was giving both of them, though neither of them rose to the bait.

When K arrived with Daken a few minutes later, she looked positively beat — as if she couldn't get the sleep she needed to catch up at all. He guided her over to a chair somewhat removed from the rest of them, and the two of them took a seat, though Noh noted she was wearing a set of bands as well.

"What have you been doing to her?" Noh asked sharply. "She looks as though you have deprived her of sleep entirely."

"Jealous?" Daken asked with a cheeky grin as he draped his arm on the back of K's chair.

"Incensed," he shot back with a glare. He crossed his arms over his chest even as Clint frowned for a moment.

"Turn that stuff off, wannabe-Wolverine," Clint muttered toward Daken. "You're making it hard to be mad, and it's messing with my banter."

"It's essential to keep her from killing everyone in the room," Daken replied. "So for now, no, I don't believe I will."

Clint tried for a glare Daken's way and then, failing that, shot a look at Osborne. "Brilliant plan, Norm. Get everyone tired out and then send us out on a mission — what, you  _trying_  to kill us? Because there are easier ways. I could show you..."

"It'll fade as soon as you leave the enclosed space," Norman replied with a wave.

Clint frowned that much harder at him for a second, though he did feel like there was  _slightly_ less of a mellow blanket muffling him. "Right. So ... not trying to kill us  _today_. Got it."

"I thought it best to bring the three of you here to explain how these bands work," Norman said, doing his best to ignore Clint's commentary entirely.

"I'm already aware," Noh said coldly.

"But they aren't," he replied. "And I've taken the liberty of improving the original design myself. For example — no Kree alloy this time, just pure adamantium. So there will be no quick cut to get out of it." He waved his hand lazily. "And no gentle whining either. That's too subtle."

"And God forbid the Green Goblin does subtlety," Clint muttered.

Norman gave Clint a look of pure loathing before he continued his smug explanation. "For you, Marvel Boy or Protector or whatever you're calling yourself these days — the sonic amplifiers will simply put you in a state of shock. Apparently, electrocution doesn't work as well — but for the others?" He grinned lazily. "Well, one of you is the perfect conductor, and the other has metal bones."

"The bands come equipped with monitoring systems, so we'll know if you deviate from your mission parameters," Hill added, and Osborne's wide smile only turned somehow wider.

"Basically, you put one toe out of line…" He let the sentence trail off as he instead pulled a device from his pocket and pressed the switch on it. Both men in the room winced in anticipation — but instead, it was K who suddenly jerked at the current going through her and then just as suddenly stilled.

"That was  _not_ necessary!" Noh objected immediately. "She was no threat to you, not with  _him_ controlling her!"

"I needed a demonstration — and  _you two_  have a job to do," Osborn argued. "A perfect fit, from where I'm standing." He gave Daken a nod, and in response, the dark young man stood up and simply scooped up K and carried her out of the room without a backward glance.

"Splitting up the dream team?" Clint asked, his hands in fists as he glared daggers at both of them. "What — worried we'll leave your  _fine establishment_ if we get the chance?"

"I'm sure you won't leave permanently if your little friend stays behind," Osborn replied. "I doubt Noh-Varr wants to leave her for too long in Daken's care."

"Tell us what you're after, then," Noh said through his teeth. "And spare us more of your cruel theatrics."

Hill simply slid a file across the table to them. "You need to kill Zarek."

"Hill, if you'd said that in the first place, we'd've done it without the cheap show and the low blows," Clint said, crossing his arms. "You know we've got previous history with that guy, so if you had an in — why not just say so?"

"I felt as if we needed to establish the chain of command," Hill replied with one raised eyebrow. "And to inform you of what your limitations and restrictions are."

"Taking the phrase chain of command pretty literally lately, aren'tcha?" he shot back. "What, not enough people wanted to march to your crazy fife on their own terms?"

"She's old Weapon X," Hill defended in a flat monotone as she closed her file folder. "She can take whatever we dish out."

"And the children from the school?" Noh broke in. "You are building yourself an army."

"Irrelevant to the conversation at hand," Hill replied. "You have your assignment — go do your job."

Clint and Noh glanced at each other before Clint made a grand, sweeping gesture. "You heard the lady. C'mon, fellow lowly peasant servant, before she gets her Spanish Inquisition knickers in a twist."

* * *

Translation from Russian:

 _Lyubimaya -_ "beloved"


	10. Like Adopted Earth Mom, Like Adopted Sparkly Son

 

Everyone had broken off into their own little family groups in Tony's bunker — playing with the little ones or cleaning up after them, as the case may be. Chance and Charlie had invited Gerry to play their "gone fightnin" game, and all three were simply running around at top speed trying to take each other down, with Gerry letting the two younger kids catch him on occasion when Natasha gently reminded him that he was bigger than they were and it wasn't entirely fair. The Hale kids didn't take long to decide they wanted to play as well, though Leslie Ann and her sister decided that they needed a better target than the teeny tiny toddlers and piled on top of Scott until he tickled them into submission.

"You gon' play with de others,  _petit_?" Gambit asked little Dani Cage when he noticed her watching the scene with all the kids with her head tipped to the side, but she shook her head and went back to coloring in her coloring book.

"They're playing hitting games," Dani said. "And Mama says I shouldn't do that until we know how much like her and Daddy I am." She gestured pointedly toward her mother, who was asleep and worn out from roughhousing with some of the kids — though that didn't stop Charlie from peering over at her occasionally, apparently to check that she was okay.

"She a smart woman, that mama of yours," he agreed with a smile as she handed him a red crayon and gestured for him to join her.

"That's what Daddy says," Dani said, which got Gambit chuckling again, though it was drowned out by the sounds of Scott being so soundly 'defeated' by both of his nieces.

Somehow, despite all the noise in the hidden-away bunker, Kate had drifted off with her head in Kurt's lap as he played with her hair — after Kristina had finally settled out and stopped kicking her.

Jessica Drew, Peter, and Natasha were talking quietly in a corner. Jess kept looking more and more concerned as she heard about how the rescue efforts were going, almost absently resting a hand on Natasha's arm. Even though she and Clint weren't dating anymore, it was obvious she cared about him deeply — and she knew from experience that being Clint's girlfriend in the middle of this kind of mess was trying even when he wasn't about to be publicly executed.

Natasha didn't miss the move and was sure to give Jess's hand a little squeeze in return, a silent 'thank you' for the support. They hadn't said anything aloud because of the little ears in the room, but both of them knew that Natasha was in far deeper than she cared to admit, and if this didn't work out — if they didn't find Clint or, worse, if they found him dead — then Natasha honestly wasn't sure she would be able to handle it.

Laura and Gabby had eventually left the cuddle pile on Logan after he and Elin were asleep, simply because Gabby was more interested in sneaking around to where the kids were playing to tickle anyone who got too close — with constant reminders from Laura to be careful with the littlest ones, always with the response that "I  _know_."

And with Nate and Hope helping Scott with the small army of little ones, that left Elin and Logan and Jubilee to take up their quiet corner undisturbed. Elin had fallen asleep curled up on her dad's chest, and Logan was simply wrapped around the little one when Jubilee heard the telltale chime that meant Logan's phone was charged up.

She punched in the code and glanced at the number of missed calls and texts and shook her head before she quietly called out so as not to wake any of the sleeping people around them. "Kurt — you win. Punk." But then, she moved on to the texts and who they were from. She saw a few of her own, and some from Kitty, and a pretty serious string from Wade that she was sure would be worth reading simply for the entertainment factor — and of course, the string from the guys on the young Avengers .. though the bits that she saw from them looked exceedingly polite in their wording. They were obviously still trying to stay on Logan's good side and not reveal that they were the adorable fanboys that everyone knew them to be. Which was totally a losing battle, as far as Jubilee was concerned.

None of it looked out of place — until she saw one string from a number that had no name attached to it. She frowned and opened it up, only to glare at the screen. Whoever it was seemed to be half talking in code — when it didn't come up in Japanese. "Who the heck is this?" she muttered to herself. She considered it for a moment before she made her way over to Logan. "Who the heck is this? No one slips on here like that, and all of your numbers are punched in — so what gives?"

He reached out to take a look, clearly not recognizing the number, judging from the look on his face. But he sat up a bit straighter as he got to the top of the string of texts and started reading it. "It's Daken," he said quietly, so as not to wake Elin, before he quickly drafted out a response and sent it. "Osborn has K, Noh, and Clint." He handed the phone to Jubilee. "Take that to Scott. I know he can't read Japanese, but he can try to get a trace on that number. Daken's not saying where they are. I don't think he can."

"Wait wait." Kate peeked her head up from the couch, suddenly awake now that there was news — which had Kurt chuckling to himself at her timing. " _Norman Osborn_?"

"That's what he said," Logan told her tipping his head at the phone. "Take a look yourself."

"Like Scott, I don't read Japanese," Kate said with an expression that clearly said 'duh.'

"And nowhere does it say Osborn," Jubilee said, scrolling down the message with a frown.

"It does, but it's in code. He's not gonna lay it out so anyone can read it," Logan said as if it was entirely obvious.

"Okay yeah, but ... Norman Osborn? The guy that totally tortured my mentor and tried to  _kill_ Noh for ditching him?  _That Norman Osborn_?" Kate looked very nearly incensed and was hardly keeping her volume in check.

"You know of a bunch of  _other_ Osborns?" Logan shot back with a raised eyebrow. "Yes.  _That_ Norman Osborn. You know. The one Daken worked for."

"That's new," Kurt said with one raised eyebrow. "I thought he hated his time on the Dark Avengers — at least, most of it."

"Far as I know, he did in the long run, but the kid's an opportunist. He likes to know who's doing what and where the action is," Logan replied. "He likes to keep in the middle of things, and he figured Osborn was up to something big."

"Didn't even know he was out of jail," Kate muttered out.

"Yeah, Normy likes to slip out when other big, catastrophic things are going on that are  _super_ distracting," Peter pointed out.

"Especially if someone lets him out," Logan said. "Though conveniently, Daken didn't mention who."

"I'll be sure to introduce them to my arrows," Kate said with narrowed eyes.

"Tell me where you want him to get stuck, and I'll stick him for you," Logan told her.

Kate looked up to meet his gaze for a second and then let out all her breath. "It's much more satisfying if  _I_ shoot him," she grumbled.

"Yeah. I know," he agreed. "But I'm pretty sure that your Elf wouldn't survive the experience this far into the game."

Kurt nodded with a soft smirk. "I would appreciate it if you didn't give me a heart attack," he said in a light tone. "As you keep reminding me, I  _am_ getting older."

She glared at both of them for a second before she lay back down with her head in Kurt's lap again. "Yeah, I'm too tired to waddle all the way there anyway," she joked. "And I don't think they'd appreciate it if we waited til Kristina came to go get them."

"No, I think they'd like a little more haste," Kurt agreed quietly.

"Okay, well ... give Norm a haircut, Logan. That's always fun, and Clint would enjoy it," Kate called out, which had Natasha outright snorting.

"I'll take it all off the top," Logan agreed with a nod. "Like a whole foot's worth."

* * *

What Hill and Osborn had failed to tell the two-man team before sending them off to go kill Zarek was that the guy was the presumptive leader of one faction of Kree, the last vestiges of his supporters from when he and Ronan tried to seize control of the planet — as well as a few loyalists who saw him as a means to an end to lead them to a swifter victory in the war.

What that all added up to, more or less, was that there was plenty of security around the guy, and he was already paranoid about his security, considering a good chunk of his forces didn't actually want him in command.

But in spite of the odds, the two of them were well-equipped for this kind of job. Noh's knowledge of Kree tech and protocols was helpful in getting them past potential hurdles — and the super strength was useful for simply tearing big holes in walls for the other obstacles. And Clint ... Clint could get inside just about anything with a lockpick and a whole lot of luck, so any doors that required a little more stealth that they didn't have codes for? Clint handled those.

In fact, the two of them made it all the way to the hallway outside Zarek's office before they were spotted, and even then, Clint ran the guy through before he could alert anyone to their presence, twisting his sword and pulling it out with a look of disdain. "Haven't used swords in a while. That technique was terrible. My old teacher would've tossed me off a cliff for something like that," he whispered low enough that only Noh could hear it, which got the slightest of smirks out of Noh before they pressed on.

Once they got to Zarek's door, the security measures in place were a bit beyond Clint's ability to hotwire, so Noh simply tore the door open, and the two of them stepped through, ducking instinctively when they heard the distinct sound of an energy weapon charging up. They looked up to see that Zarek had pulled a gun from his desk and looked somewhere between livid and  _delighted_.

"You've only come back with two," he said with a grin. "I can't say that I'm surprised."

"We thought we'd let her sit this out. We don't need all three to deal with  _you_ ," Clint said with a glare.

Zarek glared right back for a moment, his gun still leveled; he seemed annoyed by the news that K wasn't dead. "More likely you thought yourselves chivalrous to keep her from facing justice for what she did to Ronan and to other Kree," he shot back.

"See, Ronan's really only got himself to blame. He  _did_ call her a killer of Accusers. Gotta live up the name, and his name's got Accuser  _in the title_. It's like… it's like the setup of a Deadpool-worthy punchline, really," Clint said, his body language relaxed even as he and Noh carefully edged their way closer.

Then, all at once, Noh darted forward, fast enough that he was able to completely dodge the shot Zarek took at him and simply tear the weapon from his hands. In the time it would have taken Clint to blink, Noh had the Kree leader pinned against the wall, his weapon thrown to the side and his feet off the ground when Noh picked him up by the uniform.

"It's been my experience," Noh said, practically hissing, "that those who deal in others' pain often cannot take nearly what they give out. Let's put that theory into practice, shall we?" With that, he simply seized on Zarek's arm and pulled his shoulder apart, shattering the bone on the left shoulder in about the way he figured had been done to Clint when he was shot. And when Zarek cried out, Noh reached up and took the man's jaw between his thumb and index finger and squeezed until he felt the bone crunch. "Don't alert the guards. I'm only getting started."

"Uh, Noh?" Clint raised an eyebrow. He hadn't seen this side of Noh come out in full force like that, and while he could understand it, he wasn't sure this was the time. "You know the guards have shifts—"

"Could you watch the door, Hawkeye?" Noh asked in a falsely polite tone without taking his gaze off of Zarek. "I'm sure you'll spot them before they spot you, and this man is Kree. I feel he should experience Kree justice the way he seems to think it should be dispensed."

"I'm suddenly very glad it's just you and me. If we brought K, this would… yeah. I'll watch the door," Clint muttered.

Noh smirked for a moment before he turned back to Zarek. "I don't believe I'll do you the courtesy of asking any questions. Since you didn't see fit to do the same for my friends," he said in a low tone, and Clint in the doorway just took out his aides so he didn't have to hear what followed.

But after a while, the guards  _did_ make their rounds, and Clint spotted them coming and turned back to Noh, grimacing the slightest bit as he saw just what a fully trained Kree fighter was capable of when pissed off before he called out, "Time to go."

But when Noh didn't immediately respond, Clint took out his sword and ran Zarek through, then looked at Noh pointedly. "It's time to go," he repeated. When Noh finally took a step back, Clint plugged Zarek several times with his sidearm. "Just making sure he stays dead," he added when Noh raised an eyebrow at him.

Of course, when one of the guards saw the ruined door leading to Zarek's office, the alarm was raised, and Clint and Noh glanced at each other for just a second before they shared a nod and dove in — and Clint definitely noticed that Noh was fighting more on Clint's left side to protect his weak spot.

"Thanks for the support, Marvel Kid."

"If you were so grateful, you would use my given name," Noh said without missing a beat, which had Clint chuckling as they cut their way through the Kree soldiers.

By the time they got back to their own transport, they were both bloody — covered in both their own blood and that of the Kree — but wearing similar satisfied grins. "Feel any better?" Clint asked.

"I believe so," Noh replied with a matching smirk. "Though it's more of a consolation prize than anything."

"I'll take whichever one of the creeps you don't want," Clint said. "I mean, I'd love to screw with Norm, but you can pick."

"Let's just say that we'll see what opportunities arise," Noh suggested as he set the coordinates back to where K... and Osborn and Hill were.

* * *

When the two men arrived back from Zarek's ship, they found their usual escort shyly grinning and waving at them to take them back to the briefing room. "Um ... you guys need showers again," Tammy said, gesturing to the dried blood on their clothes.

"This is a constant, kiddo. Sorry to say," Clint told her frankly. "Just wait til K goes out with one of us — especially if it's with Marvel Kid over here," he added, tipping his head at Noh.

"Please ... that… that has never been one of my handles. Just call me Noh," he said, shaking his head when Clint just smirked at him.

Tammy couldn't help but smile at them as she led them down the halls and held the door open for them. She slipped off, and the two men were a bit surprised to find that K and Daken were there again as well — though she was quiet, she didn't look ready to fall asleep like she had been before.

She glanced up at them as they came in but didn't offer any friendly greeting before she turned back to stare at the table in front of her.

"You'd've been the perfect partner for Marvel Boy, K," Clint called out to her to try and get her attention again, half watching her reaction. "He's got your some penchant for, um, creativity when it comes to punishment."

"He's a good boy," K said quietly.

Noh smiled warmly at her. "Perhaps next time," he said without looking at Hill or Osborn. "I suspect you and I could cause sufficient destruction to sate even  _their_ needs."

"Is that your way of saying that you achieved your goal tonight?" Hill said as she fixed him with a look.

"Hawkeye was the one to finish him. I simply made sure he sampled justice before he went," Noh said evenly.

"Were there many other casualties?" Hill asked as she jotted down a few notes.

"Sure. A few dozen guards took exception to our being alive," Clint said with a shrug. "Disabled the ship too. You're welcome."

K cracked a smirk at that and shook her head lightly as Osborn started to tell them about the next mission.

"The next run is going to be a lot more covert and  _quiet_ ," Osborn said looking toward Clint. "There is a file that needs to be retrieved from the safe in Fury's office."

"Okay. Been there a few times," Clint said with a nod.

"Didn't you catch that,  _Ronin_? I said quiet. You're not going," Osborn replied. "She is. And since we know about her … creative streak, there's a timer on the job. Get back in the window or that shock will be a whole lot worse than the last one."

"That is a lot to ask of a woman you have deprived of sleep and mistreated after my people had us in captivity. Surely I can go with her," Noh said.

"She can handle it," Hill said. "Daken will be flying her to make sure she doesn't try anything."

"That does not assuage my worries in the least," Noh pointed out with a glare.

"Your worries mean very little to me," Osborn told him.

"That's entirely clear," Noh said, still with that same glare.

"If you're that concerned, I'm sure we could provide you with the video feed," Hill said. Daken turned his head toward Noh and Clint with a lazy smirk on his face, waiting for their take on it.

Noh was clearly struggling to keep his temper in check as he nodded. "It's not acceptable, but it is the least you can do."

"Then you can stay here. Call it a reward for getting the job done," Osborn told him almost grudgingly. "We'll wire the feed right to this room." He shoved a file folder toward K and Daken before he explained the path he wanted her to take — which would have been far more fitting for a spider, to be honest. High up, through tiny spaces, vents, and catwalks around to a hidden entrance that Fury uses to get in the back side of his office. K didn't say a word or look like she was doing more than looking at a photo for a moment as she glanced through the file and simply handed it to Daken.

"Don't you think you should study that?" Hill asked, to which K replied with a very dry look.

"You've said about a dozen times I can handle it. Pretty sure that means I don't need you micromanaging me," K deadpanned as Daken grinned and took her arm to lead her off.

"See you boys later," he called out. "We'll try not to be  _too_ late."


	11. Playing For Keeps

Hill and Osborn hadn't cared to stick around for the show in the briefing room — probably because they didn't care to hang around Clint and Noh for longer than necessarily, honestly. But the two men were watching the feed of the mission in relative silence. They weren't interested for the moment in lashing out or sassing their captors, instead half holding their breaths — both of them absolutely ready to jump into a fight if something went wrong.

And of course, it was almost inevitable that it did — when the feed cut very suddenly. When Clint replayed the last few seconds of footage, they could see the camera pointing down at the ground, and Clint studied the angle with his head tilted the same way the camera would have been before he said, "She caught it on something."

"Purposely?" Noh asked.

Clint raised both eyebrows high. "Oh. I'm sure she'd  _never_ do that."

Noh just had to chuckle the slightest bit, though it hadn't changed the worried expression on his face. "Do you think that would be grounds for…"

"No, not in the helicarrier itself. They put her down, and a SHIELD agent could find her."

"Perhaps that is what she was hoping for," Noh said almost too quietly for Clint to catch it.

"Yeah, well, I'm not saying they won't do something about it when she's somewhere they know they can recover her," Clint pointed out with a deep frown.

"You seem to have insight into how they think."

"I got along with Hill for a long time when she was in SHIELD. You know, before she went off the deep end?" Clint shrugged. "Took over her team for her actually. Turns out her tight leash backfired on her even back then."

Most of the feed consisted of Daken's muted reminders on time, though the relaxed tone of his voice made it clear that she was on schedule or ahead of it. It was the only indicator they had once the camera was suddenly out entirely, all the way up to when she apparently returned to Daken missing a sizable chunk of her uniform, but with the file in hand.

"Well, now we know how she 'caught' the wire," Clint muttered, unable to hide the smirk. "How long do you think before Hill reads her the riot act when she gets back? When I worked with her, it was usually pretty immediate."

"Yes, but she will have to beat Norman Osborn to the punch, and when I worked with him, he was gleeful about reminding us who was in charge."

"We'll flip a coin." Clint shrugged lightly, his tone flippant and hiding the honest concern.

The two settled back to wait for K's return, their relaxed postures a total contrast to the looks of worry as they both knew there would be at least some kind of consequences for K's… creativity.

They knew it wouldn't be long to wait when Osborn and Hill returned to the room and took their seats, though neither of them addressed Noh's or Clint's presence for the time being. Norman looked annoyed, and though Hill was trying to hide it, she had a purple flush to her complexion that gave away her frustration as well.

"That's a good shade on you, Maria," Clint said conversationally. "The purple. Don't think I've seen you wear it before." She glared and didn't look at him, so he turned toward Osborn. "We could dye your hair to match it, and then everyone would know you're the newest supervillain duo on the block. You should advertise that better. Coordinated looks. Maybe match your wardrobes. The green tie doesn't go with her black ensemble, Normy."

This time, he got a very dry look from Osborn. "Tell you what, Barton. Keep your mouth shut on your own, and I won't glue it shut."

Clint responded with an unmistakable one fingered sign but fell into silence for a bit — more because Daken and K were making their approach than for anything else. Any other time, he'd probably mouth off to Osborn more, but K was in a precarious enough position as it was without him making their captors even angrier.

When K and Daken arrived a short while later, it was obvious that the camera didn't do justice to the amount of damage on her uniform. But it was also obvious that she didn't seem bothered in the least by how much skin she was showing. Instead, she very carefully handed the file to Osborn and took her seat, with Daken between her and Clint.

"You ditched your recording equipment," Hill said. It wasn't a question.

"I did no such thing," K replied, straight-faced and with a perfectly calm expression and tone. She took a breath and let out a sigh before she explained, "I was on a timer, and as it turns out, you underestimated a few of the spaces I had to get through." She leaned forward a bit, without even a whisper of heat to her tone, as she met Hills' gaze. "I  _did_ just have a baby."

Osborn looked unabashedly amused by the silence and the look on Hill's face as he waved the file in his hand. "Well, Ms. Hill, if you're through being reminded of the finer, salient details, I think we have work to do before SHIELD inevitably realizes we have this." He shot K a look that didn't linger on her face at all before he grinned again and got up to head for the door, clearly enjoying himself.

Hill glared for a long moment before she rose to leave as well, and Clint didn't make it until she was gone before he burst into laughter — not that he tried that hard.

Daken was already on his feet and pulling at K to follow him. "Distance yourself from these two," he advised quietly.

She glanced at the two of them and gave them a little wave. "I should probably get clothes on before he comes back," she said loud enough for Noh to catch before she raised her voice for both of them. "Keep your temper. Both of you. I'll heal."

"From what?" Noh asked, in a tone that said he clearly already knew and was annoyed  _anyway_.

"Do as the lady says," Daken said low, and it was clear that he wasn't touching her in the least.

But that really didn't stop both Clint and Noh from looking like they were simply ready to  _murder_ Hill and Osborn when K went down all the same — and it wasn't that they were listening to K that kept them from acting on it but the fact that they didn't know where Osborn and Hill had gone that kept them from going after both of them.

* * *

Director Fury had Logan on the phone as he stared at the carved-out, foot-tall letters on his desk that spelled 'Hill' along with a neatly-written note detailing exactly which file K had stolen and the message that 'password is not a password', signed with a simple 'K'.

He'd snapped a picture of the note and the defaced desk and already sent them to Logan and was trying to find the words to explain what had happened. "Your wife was here. No one —  _no one_ — knew it, and she left this lovely note to tell us who Osborn is working with. The whole thing was quite thoughtful," Fury teased.

He shook his head to himself as Logan swore on the other end of the line. After a few quick words between them, Fury promised to send for him as soon as they followed the trace that was bound to come up when Osborn tried to use the old passwords.

Fury had only been off the phone with Logan for a few minutes when Quartermain arrived with a single printed sheet that had a set of coordinates. "Osborn tried the passwords about two minutes after you made your call," he explained. "Trace took us about five, and the printer was out of ink. So that's about ten minutes turnaround."

"But you have them?" Fury asked as he turned to the screen to see where in the world Osborn was hiding. "The  _printer was out of ink?_  Doesn't anyone know how to use a pen and a piece of paper? Or is that a lost art utilized only by spies  _infiltrating my office_?"

"We have them," Quartermain agreed as he handed Fury the sheet, barely stowing the smirk as he ignored Fury's commentary.

"If you'd been a couple minutes faster, I wouldn't have had to call Logan back."

Quartermain just smiled at that, clearly with a look of trouble. "Like I said, sir. Printer was out of ink."

* * *

The second the trace started working when Osborn put the passwords into his computer, Osborn knew about it. For all his shortcomings, he was a genius in his own right, and he'd had plenty of security measures of his own installed. So when the trace started up, his systems were sure to lock everything else down — at the very least, it would prevent SHIELD from getting any more information than their location, even if he couldn't stop that part.

He glanced up at Maria Hill with fury etched in his features. "Time to go," he told her frankly, and she was already speaking into the comm on her shoulder to direct her men — the people who had followed her from her break from SHIELD — to start the evacuation.

Elsewhere in the compound, Clint and Noh had only just gotten back to where the kids were, trying very hard to look like they weren't still pissed off about Osborn putting K down, when the evacuation alarm blared.

The two men looked at each other and, for just a moment, shared a grin. They were pretty sure this was K's doing. No way was it a coincidence that they had to evacuate right after K had been at SHIELD's headquarters. But the grins quickly gave way to determined looks as they focused their attention now on the four kids from the school that were with them.

A few of Hill's former SHIELD supporters started to file in and bark orders for them to get moving, and Noh and Clint didn't need to say a thing as they both moved to position themselves between two kids apiece, hands on shoulders as they made sure to keep themselves between the ex-SHIELD agents and the kids.

"Move it," one of the ex-agents said when Brye seemed not to be moving fast enough, and the dark-haired young woman looked wide-eyed for a second before she picked up the pace.

Clint noticed with a quick glance that she had her hand half-cupped around something, and he thought he could see a little eight-legged creature hiding in there. When he said as much to Noh, the Kree fighter pursed his lips in thought for a moment before he nodded. "Her ability allows her to speak with animals," he explained. "It's likely that is a friend of hers."

Clint raised both eyebrows for a moment before he had to snort out a bit of a laugh. "Yeah, well, guess I can't judge with the spider friends I've got," he muttered.

Noh had to smirk a bit at that and shook his head at Clint as he ushered Rico and Hisako out, very nearly carrying them both despite their protestations that they were  _fine_  on their own.

"You don't have to—" Rico said, but at that, Noh picked him up by the back of his shirt and went that much faster, especially because the ex-agents were looking a little antsy around Rico, who was the most obviously different with his very pronounced physical mutations.

They very quickly loaded up onto a transport, and while the ex-agents made a point to shove the two adults in the group far back from the cockpit so they couldn't see the coordinates being set as to where they were headed now, Brye very quietly whispered into her hand and set her eight-legged friend down with a small smile at the others. And with that, the brown spider went to go scout out their new location for them and to be their forward spy.

Which was good, because as soon as the base personnel were all evacuated, none of the prisoners got a warning before the bands that they were all wearing knocked them out to prevent them from causing any trouble in transit.

* * *

It was the same group of rescuers as had gone to the moon base that raided the coordinates Fury sent to them. The five of them were ready for a fight — though admittedly a bit worried about their friends, especially when Fury had warned them that Osborn and Hill likely knew they'd been traced.

It wasn't clear if anybody was home yet as the jet approached the former SHIELD base. They seemed to have set off some of Osborn's automatic security measures, not that it slowed Logan or Natasha down in the least in their desire to get  _going_ , both of them silently urging Scott to move faster simply by being a little too close. They didn't see any personnel-operated defenses, but there were definitely a few missiles and lasers to deal with before they could even get closer — and all of them were hanging on tight as Scott piloted them through. They weren't in the blackbird but a borrowed SHIELD jet, and it didn't have the same flying capabilities as the blackbird.

Natasha got a good, clean, open shot and took out the weapons firing at them after a while of ducking and dodging, and from there, it was just a matter of setting down and barging in — and hoping they hadn't spent too much time just trying to  _get_ there.

Logan was clenching and unclenching his hands, wound tightly and just waiting to get somewhere in the ballpark so he could  _go._ So it was no shock when he did not wait for word from anyone before leading the charge, looking for someone to hurt. They burst into the base in a rush of energy — but when they arrived, it was clear that the place was simply empty.

Natasha glanced over her shoulder at Logan and said in a clearly frustrated tone, " _YA ustal ot etogo._ "

"Avengers usually have more instant gratification, yeah," he admitted. "You're spoiled."

She gave him a look. "I wouldn't call a few weeks instant."

"Should I give you your welcome packet now or later?" Scott replied with a perfectly straight face as he came to a stop closer to Logan.

She fixed him with an even drier look than she had given Logan. "Let's just search the place," she said shortly.

"I suppose now isn't the time to point out that it was one of ours that got us here?" Scott said quietly to Logan before he could take off again.

"No," Logan replied with a little smirk as he turned away from Scott. "Not yet. She's in a mood." Which at least was proof that Logan was gaining hope again if he was making anything like a smart aleck remark.

"Perhaps later then," Kurt suggested, not bothering to hide his smirk as much as Logan was.

Peter glanced at the three X-Men and shook his head with a small smile before he all but skidded over to Natasha to catch up with her. "They can't have hidden everything," he said cheerfully. "I mean, we didn't give them much time to clear out, so there's got to be sloppy … somethings."

Natasha raised an eyebrow at him, knowing full well he was trying to pull her out of her frustration. "This is Maria Hill and Norman Osborn. And you want to hope they were sloppy," she pointed out.

"I'm an optimist," he said, his shoulders shrugged all the way up to his ears — and she couldn't help but smirk at him.

The five of them picked their way through the base, but as Natasha had pointed out, of course, Osborn and Hill were not sloppy, even in a rush. There was little to find except for Logan to confirm that, yes, they'd been there and they'd just missed them… along with a few other familiar scents.

But it wasn't until Kurt was searching through what looked to be some sleeping quarters that he found something at last. He had only spotted the corner of the note, and when he pulled it out and saw that it was written in perfectly printed Japanese, he teleported right to Logan to hand it to him. "This is for you," he said.

Logan took the thin rice paper from Kurt and raised an eyebrow at how it was addressed before he read through it. He thought it over for a moment and waited for the others to converge before he read it for the rest of the group. "It's from Daken," Logan said. "Osborn and Hill have a few of our kids from the school. Apparently, Osborn snatched them up under the guise of building a team while they were trying to find a way to help fight Kree." He looked over to Scott. "Should have re-started the junior team."

Scott nodded with a frown. "As soon as we get done here," he agreed. "We will."

"There's a bigger problem, though," Logan continued. "He described what they're doing as a 'nasty combination of Weapon X and Maria Hill'." He paused, lowering his tone a bit. "And even without much detail, it sounds nasty already."

"Yeah, those two things in concert do  _not_ sound like anything I want to touch with ten feet of webbing," Peter said, making a face.

"It's all about controls. Like the band they had on Noh — but with a little more punch to 'em. To top it off, I can't cut through 'em either," Logan said as he pocketed the note. "He'll let us know where they're at when he gets free of the mess."

"Lovely. More waiting," Natasha said with a scowl.

"Yeah," Logan agreed with a little growl. He could empathize, but he really wasn't in the mood to listen to it. Even from her. "Not my cup of tea either, but ... if it's a modified Weapon X control, you don't want them using it on Clint any more'n I want 'em usin' it on K. We show up to spring them without a way to get it off, and they're toast."

It was clear Natasha agreed with his assessment because she was nodding, but that didn't mean she looked the least bit happy about it, and she let out a string of Russian swears before she asked, "What's keeping you from cutting it? If there are measures in place that we can get past…"

"I'd take the zap if it was that," Logan said. "You know I would. But they made these out of adamantium."

Peter let out a low whistle. "They're not playing around," he half-whispered, almost to himself.

"No," Logan agreed. "If he's willin' to fork over the cash to cover that — he's playing for keeps."

"He's not keeping my  _yastreb_ ," Natasha said with one raised eyebrow.

"If you think I'm gonna let him keep K, you're crazy," Logan said with a scowl. "Not to mention the fact that Jubes actually  _needs_ that augmented idiot."

"And the kids from the school  _don't_ need to be running the kind of stuff you know Hill and Osborn are going to want from them," Scott said with a deep scowl as he thought about it.

"Yeah, I'm sure you can educate 'im, Slim," Logan said as Kurt led the charge to get out of the base.

"So if we can't cut through the controls, how do we… I mean, we can't just go charging in and risk them getting killed, right?" Peter asked, his nose scrunched up as he clearly thought it over.

"Not if we get to the ones holding the controls in the first place," Kurt said, his tail switching behind him. "If we run Osborn and Hill through, the devices they wear won't be much of a problem."

"I like that," Logan agreed. "You run 'em through, Nat and I'll cut their hands off."

"That's if you can get close enough fast enough — and without them knowing we're coming," Scott pointed out, looking thoughtful.

"You tryin' to say I  _can't_ get close enough without tippin' 'em off?" Logan asked with one eyebrow raised.

"I think it would be safer to get those devices off our friends first, especially the kids…" Scott fell into a deeper frown as he thought it over before he scrubbed a hand over his face. "Alright. I don't know if she's still on planet, but… if the bands are metallic, my sister-in-law can get them off."

"Sister-in-law?" Kurt said with his eyebrows raised high. "When did this happen? And why were we not invited?"

"I'm not actually sure  _when_ it happened," Scott admitted with almost a smirk. "I only know last time I talked to Alex, he mentioned they'd eloped. No idea where or why we weren't invited, and he hung up pretty fast, so…" He shrugged. "But the point is, I'm sure Lorna wouldn't mind helping us out again."

"Your brother's smart," Logan said distractedly as he shot Kurt a little look. "I'm sure there was no reason at all." He smirked a bit to himself. "Just impulsive, right?"

Scott shook his head. "Anyway, I'll call her up — see if she's still on-planet or what she and Alex are up to… But at the very least, she can track K down for us like she did before if Daken doesn't get back to us soon." With that, he switched on his comm to call his brother before Kurt could press for any more details — and it definitely looked like he wanted to.

Of course, Alex sounded a bit surprised when Scott asked to speak with Lorna, and there was a long and pregnant pause before she finally got to the phone. When Scott quickly gave her a rundown of as much as he was willing to say over the comms and basically what they'd like her to do, though, she paused for an even longer time.

"I'll help you," she said at last. "Just give me a bit to get some things arranged. We'll meet you at the mansion."

"Thanks, Lorna," Scott said warmly before she hung up and he leaned back.

"Does she know the school is trashed?" Logan asked. "You know. In case she's looking for Gumbo's gumbo."

"She might not," Scott admitted, shaking his head at Logan. "We'll have to send her by Tony's hideout. When this is over and we have our people back."

* * *

When Clint and Noh came around again, it was in a new base — and a new briefing room, apparently. There was the usual long table setup and Hill and Osborn looking smug, and K was there with Daken — almost like nothing had changed at all, unless you counted the fact that Hill's face had turned an even darker shade of purple across her cheeks and she was glaring hard at K.

"You sent SHIELD a message," Hill directed at K as soon as all three were conscious. "That was  _not_ in your mission parameters."

K kept her relaxed body language but didn't bother to hide the fact that she was glaring right back at her. "You picked me because you knew I'd infiltrated the helicarrier before. Unseen. Undetected. So you should have known that I  _always_ leave SHIELD a message. It's my little way to remind Fury that he's not as sneaky as he thinks he is."

Clint sat up a bit straighter at that and couldn't hide the flat-out grin, because he'd heard rumors about little messages that no one could figure out where they came from.

"You're not working for the same people anymore — your little games won't fly here," Hill said coolly.

K smiled sedately at her for a moment. "No offense, ex-AD Hill, but if  _they_ couldn't stop me from playing with my food, what makes you think you can?"

Osborn gave her an almost gleeful sort of grin. "For one thing, you're not in this alone, Mrs. Howlett," he pointed out and tipped his head at the two heroes across the table from him — who both suddenly felt very aware of the distance and the fact that Osborn was reaching for his jacket pocket.

K took in a deep breath, looking bored as she relaxed further before she crossed the space between herself and Norman faster than either of them could react. In the blink of an eye, she was half wrapped around him from behind, with her arm around his neck — sure that the band was making contact with his throat as she carefully extended one set of claws just until she'd made contact with his skin just under his ribcage. "You didn't read my file either," she said quietly into his ear. "I do  _not_ play fairly."

"Neither do I," Norman replied with a deep glare as he glanced to Hill for a moment before she reached for something in her pocket and, a second later, Noh let out a very loud shout before he simply crumpled to the floor.

Before he hit the ground though, Norman cried out in pain as well when K let the claws already poised under his ribcage out, then readjusted to rest her other fist under his chin. "Go ahead. Hit the other one." It came out like a purr, and Norman flat froze, clearly not expecting that kind of a reaction.

Hill watched the entire thing with a frown before she stood up and took a few quick steps back from Norman, though it was clear she was amused at the situation he found himself in, even if it wasn't helping her at the moment. When Norman looked at her with an expression of surprise, she smirked again and, without looking away from K and Norman, said, "Daken, do your job. You're supposed to keep her from doing exactly this."

"She wouldn't do things like this if you two weren't so incredibly stupid about what you say around her," Daken replied as he moved to try and get her off of Norman. "I thought you had experience dealing with ferals."

"I do," Hill said coldly, waiting for Daken to get K's fist away from Norman's head enough that it was reasonably safe before she hit the control for the other two captives in the room, and the shock that went through K also went through both Norman and Daken.

Hill cleared her throat the slightest bit and stood up straighter as she found herself the only conscious person in the room — then reached for her comm to call for a medic.

…..

Translations from Russian:

 _YA ustal ot etogo -_ I'm tired of this

 _Yastreb -_ Hawk


	12. Animal Magnetism

The group of would-be rescuers landed back on the grounds of the mansion to meet up with Lorna so they could find their missing members and get those adamantium bands  _off_. The rubble hadn't really been cleared at all because those that cared to start rebuilding were occupied with the invasion, and it was a depressing sight to trudge through the rubble.

But they went from tired dejection to outright shock when they saw a figure standing where the front door used to be that they simply weren't expecting.

He was instantly recognizable, even to the members of the group that  _weren't_ X-Men, and the lot of them were on edge, reaching for weapons and ready for a fight. All of them recognized the distinct look, complete with the long cape, that gave away the fact that it was none other than Magneto standing on their demolished front porch.

"What are you doing here?" Scott asked, clearly shocked, but the tall old man simply turned to the assembled group with his palms out and open and his body language entirely relaxed, though there was clear rage in his expression — even if it wasn't directed at them at the moment.

"There's no need for your weapons," he told them simply. "I didn't come here for a  _fight_ — I came here because my daughter asked me to help."

That set Scott back a step for a moment as he blinked at him, and it was clear from the expressions on the faces of the rest of the group that they were just as shocked. "Lorna called you?"

"She's currently indisposed and cannot come to render aid — though she seemed to think some haste was in order," Magneto replied with that same very calm tone, though this time a new sort of anger flashed as he added, "When we're done, I  _will_ be speaking to that brother of yours on how she found herself  _indisposed_ in the first place."

At that, Kurt and Logan shared a quick look and stepped up next to Scott, an old plan in place if it was needed.

When he saw it, Erik chuckled the slightest bit. "I told you, I'm not here to fight," he said. "In truth, I have no desire to fight you at all — even after we find your misplaced friends." He let out a long and weary sigh. "I'm tired, and I am old. There's no reason to reopen old wounds here."

After a long while in which the group of them seemed not to have lost one bit of their wariness, Scott asked at last, "What did Lorna tell you?"

"That your friends have been captive for far too long, and that they have lost their free will for a time," Magneto said, and the anger was back in his gaze. "She also mentioned that you believe she — or I — could find them and liberate them from their bonds."

" _Vrag moyego vraga_..." Natasha whispered quietly for only Logan to hear. He nodded, though he didn't take his eyes off of Erik, and she could see he was a bit more on edge than usual even if he was putting in an inhuman effort to keep from growling.

"I'm only too happy to help you find the ones you lost," Erik said. "And when we return, please, allow me to help to rebuild your home as well." He swept one hand out to indicate the rubble all around them, looking honestly crestfallen. "To see it in this state…" He shook his head and trailed off.

"There's got to be a catch," Scott said, clearly suspicious. "What do you want?"

For a second, Erik's gaze took on a faraway quality before he let out a sigh. "Not long ago, I would have told you my only desire was peace in our time, but I see now that it won't happen in  _my_ lifetime." He looked between the heroes for a moment. "Perhaps I can help to expedite it in yours, if you'll allow me to remain with you once you rebuild your home."

"You want to join the X-Men?" Scott wasn't even bothering to hide the tone of sheer disbelief.

"I would like to help see Charles' dream to fruition," Erik replied.

That took a bit of the wind out of Scott's sails for a moment, and when he replied, it was with a bit less bite. "After we rebuild," he said carefully, "we'll see what kind of place we can find for you." He got back a bit of his bite, though, when he looked back up at Erik with narrowed eyes. " _After_ we rebuild. With all of our friends back and in one piece."

Erik was smiling the slightest bit. "I wouldn't ask to take your place as leader. You're doing a fine job, Scott. A far better job than I think you ever believed you'd be able to do. As I said, I only want to  _help_ ," he said in a soothing tone.

Scott frowned at that for a second before he tipped his head at Logan and then Kurt. "Well?"

The two old friends shared a look, but Kurt was the one to answer first with a very subdued nod. Logan took a lot longer than Scott thought he would before he very slowly nodded in agreement too. "He's our best shot," Logan said evenly.

Scott nodded once, sharply, before he turned back to Erik. "Alright. If you can help us, with finding our friends and with… moving forward…" He paused. "We accept."

"There's no need to sound so resigned," Erik said with a hint of amusement as he strode forward. "I do hope we can mend bridges — but for the moment, let's focus on finding those that are lost to you."

The three X-Men shared another look between themselves before they headed back, this time for the ship as Scott very quickly and quietly filled Erik in on the finer details — the adamantium bands, the note from an 'inside source', all of it that he considered relevant to the mission at hand. And while he was filling in Erik, Kurt called his bamfs so that they could have access to a quick 'port for their friends if need be.

"Our source said he'd send us coordinates when he could, but you might be able to find them faster," Scott said once they were settled into the jet — with Kurt and Logan on either side of Magneto and still clearly watching him. "K has an adamantium skeleton like Logan's — and Lorna was able to find the two of them for us once by searching for the metal in their bones."

Magneto looked exceedingly pleased to hear that his daughter had been able to do that, and he nodded to everything Scott said with a smile. "Yes, I can find her for you," he mused quietly, though he looked to Logan for a moment and had to chuckle. "Had I known earlier there was a second one running around with adamantium inside them… it  _would_ explain a few times when you were difficult to find, Wolverine. Pointed the wrong way entirely."

"You've found her before, then?" Logan asked with a little frown.

"Without realizing it, yes," he said, nodding thoughtfully. "And without knowing  _what_ I had found." He leaned back easily in his chair for a moment as he thought it over. "So now —  _knowing_ what I am looking for, the matter should be much simpler."

With that, he leaned forward, hands outstretched, and Logan could feel the magnetic pull from where he was sitting intensify as Magneto began his search. Logan half held his breath and looked exceedingly uncomfortable as he gripped the armrest a bit tighter than before.

" _S toboy vse vporyadke?_ " Natasha asked softly, leaning forward with concern in her gaze.

" _Nyet,_ " Logan replied through gritted teeth.

She frowned at his answer and reached over to rest a hand on his arm, now watching him more carefully than she had been watching Magneto and half ready to hit the cape-clad mutant if Logan got any worse. One of Kurt's bamfs was hovering at her shoulder doing the exact same thing — though he had earlier been watching  _her_ with concern because she seemed so frustrated with Clint missing.

But Logan's discomfort didn't last long — and Magneto found a direction quickly. "They're west of our position," he told Scott simply before he simply shifted the direction the jet was facing in lieu of a bearing to get him started. "At least, the girl is. If they are together, that's where we will find them."

Natasha looked to Logan, who looked slightly less like he was going to tear the armrests off of his seat, but he still didn't look entirely comfortable, and she decided to keep her hand on his arm for the rest of the flight out. A couple of the bamfs crawled up to sit on Logan and keep an eye on him as well, though one of them was wearing what was unmistakably a 1920's reporter hat, complete with ID card in the edge, and was holding Kurt's phone, sizing Erik up from a distance like he was trying to decide if Erik was record-worthy.

They were very nearly to Colorado, still following Magneto's directions, when Erik leaned forward with a sparkle of laughter. "I meant to say earlier," he said, a proud sort of smile washing over his expression. "I never did congratulate you, Mr. Summers. It seems you've learned control of your powers at last."

Scott bristled the slightest bit and didn't take his gaze off the instruments. "It's a recent thing."

"Yes, clearly," Erik said, still smiling as he leaned back again. He was silent for a moment before he said, "They're just beyond Pike's Peak, if memory of this area serves. This close, I can feel a few sources of adamantium as well — that must be Norman Osborn's doing."

"Yeah, well, he won't be doing it much longer," Peter said with a shrug, though that was belied by the glare he had on.

Scott set the jet down a bit further out from where the old MRD base was situated so that they wouldn't be detected. Even with a plan in place to get the control devices off of their friends, they didn't want to give Hill and Osborn a heads up that they were coming and risk losing their friends again after being  _so_ close way too many times.

The group of them were seasoned at sneaking into places, and even Peter was entirely quiet as they made their approach, half watching Natasha, who was clearly ready to just grab her hawk and  _go_ once they got inside… Either that or straight up start wrecking the days of everyone inside; it seemed to be a toss-up.

She didn't have to take much time to consider her options, though, as she, Logan, and Kurt led the charge inside, with Logan leading the way and checking scents as he padded through the halls, sticking to the shadows. They'd go a little ways and then Kurt would radio back to Scott to tell them to move forward so that they all could be relatively close together as they entered the place.

The rocky walls were mostly smooth, like a large, bored-out tunnel in the mountain, but there were several rooms on either side of the massive hallway that were large enough to hide their numbers as they went from one pathway to the next, avoiding patrols and little packs of soldiers as they went.

By the time they found where the common area was where the teenagers were nervously awaiting instruction from their keepers, Erik had seen quite enough. He looked outraged when he saw them there — and after Scott had detailed what the bands around their wrists were used for, he simply wasn't going to wait for any prompting before he raised his hand and stretched the bands out widely enough for them to take off themselves. As the metal stretched, the circuitry inside popped and snapped and floated alongside the stretched-out, almost molten-looking adamantium.

"The children should be free to go," he said quietly to Scott, who found he didn't need to catch their attention when Kurt's little blue friends had already teleported their way to the teens and removed them from the compound entirely.

"So now we've just gotta find the adults," Pete said quietly.

"I'm not sneaking around for Norman Osborn's ego," Erik said in a dismissive tone before he simply levitated off the ground until he seemed to be centered in the room. With a glance to the others, Erik then began to move forward. "This way," he called out.

"Okay, so we're following the floating super villain," Peter said quietly, looking at the other four with a wide-eyed look of alarm. "Should I be worried?"

"Not yet," Scott said just as quietly. "But I wouldn't want to be Hill or Osborn right now."

Erik was now leading the way with fury etched in his features as he simply peeled back the walls. In front of him, a magnetic shield stopped any bullets that Hill and Osborn's men tried to send their way. Any soldiers who were stupid enough to shoot at  _Magneto_ found themselves with their guns crushed in their hands, if they were  _lucky_. And the whole time, Erik simply levitated through with that same magnanimous expression on his face.

"Definitely easier on this side of the wall," Logan muttered to Kurt, who had to smirk the slightest bit and nod his agreement.

* * *

When Clint woke up after the hit from the bands, Noh was already up and watching him. "Oh man. That — that was almost worth it for the show. You missed it, Noh," he muttered as he sat up and shook his head.

"What did I miss? More of our captors trying to flaunt their fragile superiority?" Noh asked with a small smirk that had Clint grinning outright.

"Nah." He grinned at Noh. "Norman pissed K off when he hit you, and she stuck her claws in his side, and… you should've  _seen_ the look on his  _face_." He was trying to make the expression but failing because he kept laughing. "And then she  _dared_ him to do it again, just stuck her claws right up in his face… you missed it, man."

Noh couldn't help but laugh at Clint's attempt to get Norman's expression across as he shook his head. "It certainly seems that way," he agreed.

"I missed the finale," Clint admitted. "But seeing as Hill put us  _all_ down, and Daken and Norm were attached at the time?" He grinned broadly. "I'm picturing those cartoons, you know, where it's practically an X-Ray and you can see their skeletons? Gerry loves those things. Yeah, that's what I'm sticking with for what happened."

Noh laughed again, shaking his head at Clint. "I'm sure that's not what happened, but the mental image is entertaining."

"Yeah, well, pretty sure they're gonna have Daken sticking to her like glue after that," Clint admitted. "But man, was that a show for the ages."

"When we get out of our current predicament, I'm sure your little one will enjoy hearing you tell it," Noh said, though his smile was a little less bright at that.

"Yeah." Clint rubbed the back of his neck as he nodded. "Hope he wasn't watching when we made our TV debut, no matter what I told Ronan."

"I doubt Jess would have allowed that," Noh assured him quietly.

Clint let out a breath and fell silent for a moment before he leaned his head back against the wall. The two of them sat there in the silence for some time, a bit of the good mood gone — when the alarms split the air, and both men were on their feet in a second.

Clint swore quietly under his breath as he looked around the room. "Don't know where the kids are in this new layout," he grumbled. "If something's going down, I'd rather know where they are."

Noh pursed his lips and moved to the edge of the room as they both heard and watched the flurry of activity outside when the door flung open. There were Hill and Osborn — the latter with a pronounced hitch in his step and a very recently-bandaged side.

"We're leaving," Hill said sharply, and when she stepped back to motion the men out of the room, they could see beyond her that Daken was simply carrying K.

"We just got here," Clint pointed out with a smirk.

"Then you haven't had time to get comfortable or attached. Let's go," she shot back.

K glanced over to Clint and Noh with a little smirk before Hill saw it and got angrier. "When we get re-settled," Hill said coolly, "you and I are going to have another chat about just what was in that message you left."

"Don't worry," K promised. "I'll leave messages in your cell for you."

Hill glared at her openly. "Clearly, we'll have to keep better tabs on you. Leave another message like that, and we'll put you down so fast you won't have time to think."

"You know sign language?" K asked before she flipped her off. "You're not fast enough to stop my messages."

"Before you're tempted, let me warn  _you_ ," Daken half snarled over his shoulder to Hill. "Hit that button while she's in my arms, and I promise you won't like what I do to you."

"Then do your job so I won't have to," Hill retorted.

"It's not my job you should worry about," Daken replied. "It's what I'll do in my spare time."

"As entertaining as that would be," Osborn said with a smirk, "can we have this soiree  _after_ we leave?" He illustrated his point by grabbing hold of Clint's arm to pull him forward faster as they headed for the exit.

"Woah, hey, no fresh stuff," Clint said with an expression of distaste that was almost as intense as the one Osborn shot him at that.

The six of them pressed through the halls toward the hangar as the alarms blared around them, and they were nearly to the plane when the whole plane just… crumpled like an old soda can.

Before they had time to process the crunched-up jet in front of them, Daken and K both let out surprised shouts when K simply  _flew_ out of his arms. Very shortly after that, Noh and Clint followed, pulled by the arms that had the bands, though by the time they came to a stop, none of them were wearing those overgrown bracelets.

"What… just happened?" Clint managed to get out before there was a hand in the fabric of his shirt. He didn't have much time to react before Natasha had simply pulled him over and very quickly kissed him for everyone to see before she turned back to Hill and Osborn with a look of murder that he recognized. So, he stepped back to let her get to work, startling the slightest bit on seeing the rest of the rescue crew — including the floating supervillain in their midst.

Erik still had his hand outstretched as he crushed the plane down further — and then simply tore apart the weapons that their captors had been wearing.

"Why is it that I'm not surprised that you're trying to win over the world on the backs of children?" Erik half snarled at them, directing most of his ire toward Osborn. "You certainly couldn't do it while running about as  _the Green Goblin._ "

Osborn sneered right back at him. "Like you can talk to me about using children for your crusades."

"I've never used  _shock collars_ to keep anyone to my cause," he countered with his eyes narrowed. "Those that followed my lead did so of their own will."

"Well that would explain your fall from power," Osborn sneered. "Is this a good deed for your  _parole_?" he asked, gesturing to the X-Men.

"Are you under the false impression that you have some say in that?" Erik replied. He crushed the doors and the backup jet without a second glance. "I believe Wolverine and Miss Romanoff have a few questions for you."

"Cyclops, why don't you get our friends back to the plane?" Natasha suggested, her tone suddenly silky smooth as an almost predatory light lit up her gaze. "We'll catch up when we've secured the prisoners."

"Or what's left of 'em," Logan agreed, then gave K another quick kiss. "Accidents happen."

Scott frowned hard and looked like he might try to argue the point, but the little bamfs made the decision for him, each grabbing one of the former prisoners as well as Scott and Erik and taking everybody back to the blackbird in a blink. When they returned, one of them caught Logan's attention and held up two hands to indicate ten minutes.

"That's more than we need," he said with a nod.

The little guy nodded — "accidentally" not noticing when Daken very quietly slipped out of the hangar while Natasha and Logan let out several weeks' worth of frustration on the two villains in their grip.

Ten minutes later, the bamfs returned to get the four of them to the jet. The didn't look at all surprised to find Hill and Osborn fairly bloodied, bruised, and very well-restrained — and both Natasha and Logan looked a bit more relaxed after letting out some of their feelings.

They teleported into the jet moments later, making sure that Hill and Osborn had a corner to themselves where they could glare silently at their former prisoners and their new captors. A couple of the bamfs stationed themselves nearby with little glares, and one of them pointed two fingers at his eyes and then at them to indicate he would be watching them.

Natasha wiped her hands off on her uniform and went straight to Clint, but when Logan went to do the same with K, he was a bit surprised to find that Erik was chatting quietly with her and Noh as well, since he didn't know either of them and seemed to be very interested in getting to know them. He was glad to see, though, that there seemed to be no danger of K adopting Erik into her protective circle from the way she was watching him. Her body language was a lot more blocked off than she did with those she was comfortable with, but that shifted too as soon as she saw Logan - warming up considerably.

But, as anyone could predict, Logan found a way to move the focus from her and Noh to something a bit more entertaining. "So, how long did you say Lorna and Alex have been married?" Logan asked, not really directing the question to anyone in particular as he took the seat next to K and pulled her closer. "Haven't really seen much of them since he was helpin' Slim out."

"I haven't actually talked to them in person since a year ago," Scott admitted. "Just called them up for the twins' birthday, really. I don't know when they got married." He glanced over at Erik for a second. "It might have been a while. We don't talk all that often."

"We're meeting up with them later, though?" K asked, shifting to settle in leaning against Logan, obviously soaking up the contact. "Erik mentioned something about that."

"Well, they were supposed to meet us at the mansion?" Peter put in. "And that's where we're headed now, I think. Unless you want to… let Magneto… see Tony's place… which… no." He was speaking slowly as if he was trying to figure out how to word it without giving anything away.

"I'm pretty sure he could find it on his own if he wanted to," Logan replied. "Especially for as easy as it was to find K."

"And that … is the first time anyone has said  _that_ in the history of ever," K said as she kept her gaze on Erik.

"We won't hold it against your record," Clint assured her with a crooked smirk from where he was clearly enjoying the fact that Natasha seemed content to let him curl up with his arm across her shoulders.

"Only because I provided entertainment," K teased.

"Oh so much," Clint agreed, the smirk widening. "Never gonna forget that show as long as I live."

"Is there something someone needs to die over?" Logan asked.

"Minimal nudity," K promised before she leaned over to kiss him.

"And she made sure to stab him and get him electrocuted, so…" Clint shrugged and grinned. "The look on his face. Beautiful."

"Now … the show  _before_ that ... " K said, letting the comment fall.

"Yeah, well…" Clint shrugged again. "There were shows all around. We're TV stars now."

"I think that's overstating things," K replied as she snuggled into Logan.

"And besides, let's not focus on the things that have happened," Noh suggested, sounding a bit tired. "Let's instead find the rest of our loved ones. I've not seen Jubilee for weeks."

"Oh, Noh," K said turning his way. "I think … I can't be your defense lawyer on Hala anymore. Maybe."

Noh let out a laugh at that. "No, I think they would not let you anywhere near a court of law except to try you." He was still chuckling as he shook his head. "I shall have to endure the loss of my lawyer, I suppose."

"I mean, I can come out of retirement if you want me to scare the stuff out of them," she said with a shrug.

"I have no plans to face Kree justice systems ever again," he assured her.

"Good," Logan said. "You better not — or it won't be your lawyer you need to worry about."

"No, it will be my wife," Noh said without hesitation.

"You have no idea," K muttered.

"Is she still with the little ones?" Noh asked curiously. "I'm surprised she isn't here with you now. Or has she been fighting the invasion elsewhere? I cannot imagine she was pleased at… anything that has happened in the past few weeks. I'd hate to be a Kree soldier facing her."

Kurt had to smirk the slightest bit. "She's hardly left Kate's side," he said.

"And she's been on babysitting duty," Logan supplied. "Elin."

Noh brightened at that. "Oh, I miss that little one," he said earnestly. "When she has had her fill of snuggling her mother — I'd love to hold my baby sister again."

"Good luck with that," Logan told him. "I had to sneak out while she was asleep. She's not letting go of her mother for a good, long time once she sees her."

"Well, I can be patient. I have Jubilee to return to, and I doubt I will let her go for some time either," Noh said with a quiet smile.

"You'll forget all about Elin when we get there," K said with a chuckle, then looked toward the confused expression on Erik's face. "I can explain later, if you like."

"I think you may have to," Erik said mildly, though he couldn't help but shake his head at the dynamic of easy camaraderie between the X-Men in the jet. "Things have certainly changed while I have been gone."

"Consider it my thanks for scaring the crap out of me back there," K said with a little smile.

He returned the smile for a moment. "My intention was to get you from your captors and from your bonds quickly, not to alarm you."

"Oh, I understand — but I've never been lifted like  _that_ before."

"Turns out there's still new things to discover even at your age," Clint said with a smirk before he let out a bit of a yelp when Natasha pinched him for it.

"Apparently so," she agreed. "What else did we miss?"

"Well, if we're headed to the mansion and not the bitties?" Peter shifted a bit and looked nervously over at the three of them. "Well ... you'll see for yourself, but it's pretty much leveled. Same with Avengers Tower, actually."

Noh and Clint shared a significant look between them, and Clint leaned forward and covered his face with both hands with a muttered, "Crap."

"Don't start or I'll hit both of you," K said with a bit of a sharp tone.

Clint shot her a look. "Don't start what?"

She gestured to all of him. "That … the beating yourself up garbage. Stop."

"I got Avengers Tower leveled!" he shot back, lifting his head and looking more mad at himself than her. "That's gotta be… that's rare levels of stupid right there. Typical."

She gave him a dry look before she turned to Natasha, who was already shaking her head at Clint. "Did anyone die?"

"No. The codes only let them in — but they also set off the alarms. Like they were  _supposed_ to," Natasha said, giving Clint a significant look and even going so far as to slide her arm around his waist a little tighter. "Everyone got out. Miles was even giving me his version of a play-by-play."

"See?" K said. "No one died, and you gave Stark a project."

"Where did everybody get to after I gave 'em the codes?" Clint asked Natasha, ignoring K.

Natasha gave him a long and lingering look before she shook her head at him again. "Some of them are with SHIELD. Steve has a few of them in places of his own. Everyone is spread out, but safe," she promised. She looked over her shoulder at Noh. "And the same is true of the X-Men. No one died; no one was hurt. We're all spread out right now, but… we were spread out anyway fighting the Kree."

"How's that going, by the way?" Clint asked, trying to change the subject when it was clear both Natasha and K were determined not to let him mope as much as he wanted to about his screw-up. "I mean, after K took out Ronan and me and Marvel Kid over here took out Zarek… can't be much to the leadership."

"They're splintered," Scott said. "Some of them are still interested in trying to make Earth pay or something along those lines, but… they're fighting among themselves."

"Which makes it easier for us to push them out," Kurt said with a nod. "And that's precisely what the others have been doing while we have been searching for you. What little resistance we're meeting with their expulsion is negligible at best."

"Well I hope they just take their losses as a casualty of war so I don't have to stab another one in the face like that," K said as she closed her eyes. "That stuff stinks."

"It depends entirely on who is next to lead them," Noh said quietly. "But that, my friend, is venturing into the land of what could be and not what is. And as you know, that is not how temporal physics works," he added with a soft smile.

K smiled slightly. "Yes, but a girl needs to know her options. Especially if it comes with flighty things like 'war criminal' charges."

"You know. The little details," Clint agreed with a smirk.

"Charges like that fade with time," Erk said with a little wave that had more than a few eyebrows raised, though no one was going to touch it with a ten-foot pole.

From the very back of the plane, one of the kids spoke up quietly. "Well, if Mr. Osborn's files are right? The Kree are massing to retreat," Brye said.

"You had access to their files while you were there?" Erik asked, sounding surprised as he turned to face her with a far more interested look.

Brye grinned and shook her head. "No, I had eyes on the inside," she explained as she gently opened her hand to show the two-inch long spider. "We didn't actually know very much except where they wanted us to go, but Parker here was super helpful."

Peter looked like he had the creeps at the little spider just chilling out in Brye's hand. "You named it  _Parker_?"

"She said it felt more like home that way," Hisako said with a quiet laugh.

"You have an honest-to-God arachnid fanclub," Logan chuckled.

Peter shuddered. "I'll be honest — I'm not actually a big fan of spiders," he said. "So I don't really  _want_ an arachnid fanclub."

"Too damn bad; you got one," Logan said, smiling a bit wider.

"Actually, Parker likes me best," Brye laughed. "But he's pretty fond of Rico too. Sorry, Spiderman."

"I'm not disappointed, trust me," Peter assured her, shaking his head.

The kids laughed at that, though the always quiet Tammy looked a bit nervous as she looked around the plane. "Um… are we the only ones who got caught?" she asked softly. "I mean — is everybody else okay?"

"Everyone else is fine, as far as we know," Kurt assured her, though he couldn't quite help the quiet smile, knowing that she must have been thinking about Tyler. "There have been no calls for help or reports of trouble. They seem to have learned to go underground when trouble hits."

"Oh good," Tammy said, looking absolutely relieved. "So ... are we going back home, then? I mean, if the school is destroyed…"

"You should call home and see how your parents are doing," Kurt said. "If they're overwhelmed, you can come with us."

Tammy nodded shyly. "Can I borrow your phone?" she asked, and Kurt simply nodded and handed her the phone as the other kids joined in trying to figure out what their next move would be.

….

Translation from Russian:

 _Vrag moyego vraga -_ The enemy of my enemy

 _S toboy vse vporyadke? -_ Are you all right?


	13. Back At The Bunker

Jubilee had been practically climbing the walls since Tony had relayed the message that they'd found the three captured heroes and were coming back — with a few extra people as well. Not that the extras were as important as seeing her Wolvie again — and seeing him  _happy_ and with his wife and not totally believing in his stupid curse. Not to mention a certain Kree idiot who had been gone for  _way_ too long.

Kate kept half an eye on her friend the whole time. "Jubes, you're making me tired just watching you," she said at last from her spot laid out on the couch.

"Yeah, well, it's been  _weeks_ ," Jubilee muttered, not really slowing down.

"They're not going to get here any faster just because you're speeding up," Lorna said with a quiet smile. She and Alex had arrived in Tony's bunker a few hours earlier, and as soon as she did, Tyler had hardly left her side.

Because the truth was, Loran was  _very_ pregnant. She looked like she was ready to pop any second, and in fact, she was actually a day past her due date, so Tyler and Elin were both watching her — though Elin's gaze was far more curious than anything else.

Of course, having a newcomer had been great for the kids, who were getting sick of being cooped up. But Chance and Charlie knew Aunt Lorna from pictures and seemed pretty comfortable around her — and once she started doing funny tricks with anything metal in the room, the rest of the kids decided they liked her too.

Which really just freed up space for Jubilee to pace some more without worrying about running into little Summers kids who wanted her to "look not sad."

"You gon' wear yo'self out before your sweetheart gets here," Remy pointed out with a smirk.

"Yeah, I thought you wanted to save your energy for the big talk," Jessica Drew said with a little teasing smirk.

"And what would you know about that talk, Jess?" Kate teased. "You chickened out on that one pretty epicly."

Jess pulled a face at Kate and then rolled her eyes. "Come on, Jubilee. You can take the loveseat. I'm going to check on Gerry. He'll want to say hi to his dad when they get here." She slid out of the chair and headed to the back room, where the little boy was taking a nap — or at least pretending to. He was already awake and quietly playing with his plastic bow, which he had been pretty much attached to when he'd figured out that his dad was not visiting for a  _reason_ , even if he didn't know why. And since he'd heard people saying Clint was coming, he couldn't sleep. Not even a little bit.

When the group or rescuers and former prisoners finally walked in a short time later, K and Logan were quick to make their way to Elin, who on seeing the two of them turned into a teeny tiny monster for Tyler, who was holding her.

She wriggled and squirmed, half squeaking and squealing until her mother got to her and picked her up. She snuggled right into her and very clearly made it known that she was exactly where she wanted to be, though she kept picking her head up from K's shoulder and grinning at her for a few moments before she'd snuggle right back in. She giggled when K nuzzled her and looked as if she was positively in heaven when the three of them settled into a loveseat with Logan wrapped around his girls.

Gerry was also over the moon when Clint walked in the door, shouting " _Daddy!_ " at the top of his lungs as he tackled the side of Clint's leg. Clint grinned and picked him up with his good arm, and Gerry hugged his neck and gave him several kisses, launching into a half-babbled version of  _everything_ he'd been up to while his dad was gone.

As for Noh, his initial greeting was a little less cuddly and a lot more along the lines of an attack when Jubilee ran right to him and smacked him hard. "Don't  _do_ that to me!" she nearly shouted at him.

But Noh was so glad to see her that he didn't seem to mind the hitting at all, instead scooping her up in his arms to press a kiss to the very tip of her nose. "I don't mean to do any such thing," he promised. "And I never intended to leave you for any period of time, much less as long as we have been gone."

"Well … the road to me kicking your sparkly moon dusted butt is covered in 'didn't intend to's," Jubilee replied with her hands on her hips.

"I know," he said softly before he kissed her forehead very, very gently. "And I'm truly sorry. Please let me make it up to you."

"Only if you can figure out why I am so royally cheesed," she replied.

He took a slight step back, still holding her in his arms though now looking her over quickly. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I promised I would never be subject to the Kree or their form of justice again, and I've failed to keep my word."

"From what Santa Stark told me, that shouldn't be an issue," she replied. "I am mad for a totally different reason."

He looked her over once more and then looked downright concerned. "Jubilee, were you injured while I was gone?" he asked, wide-eyed.

"No," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I got my thunder stolen by a big headed creep."

"Ah," Noh said, nodding quietly. "Yes, I promise, we'll finish our anniversary trip as soon as the Kree are gone."

"No we won't."

"We won't?" He looked alarmed. "Jubilee, I truly am sorry—"

"Yeah you are. More than you realize, because even Kate has it figured out." She tipped her head to one side. "And you're waaaay behind Logan and K."

Noh's eyes widened a bit more at that one, and he looked like he was half holding his breath. "Jubilee," he said, very quietly, "Jubilee ... you are not just a babysitter here, is that what you are saying?"

"I  _tried_ to tell you on the beach," she said quietly, almost pouting as she did so.

He was still outright staring at her with wide eyes before he reached up one hand to cup her cheek. "How are you feeling?" he asked openly. "You are human — and my world's genetic advances... Are you alright?"

"I'm a little mad I didn't get to blow Ronan's head off," she said in a lofty tone. "But I guess I'm okay."

He very tenderly leaned down and kissed her, and when the kiss broke, he was grinning. "You have never looked so beautiful," he whispered to her. "And I have never been so… ecstatic."

"You gotta lot more sweet talking to do, mister," she said, poking him in the chest hard.

He reached down and scooped her up into his arms. "My dear, beautiful, wonderful, darling Jubilee... I'll tell you anything you like and more," he promised, kissing her between every other word and holding her gently as she rearranged herself to get comfortable. "And I will do more than talking to make up for my absence."

The others in the room had to grin to themselves watching the interaction as Noh continued to carry Jubilee off so he could tell her more wonderful things — which had more than a few of them shaking their heads at the glittery pair of lovers.

Even Erik, who had come with the group if for no other reason than that they were reluctant to let him out of their sights now that he was taking an active interest in the X-Men again, was watching the entire exchange with an amused sort of smile. But he was distracted by the ever-intrepid Chance, who worked his way over to the newcomer while his best friend was busy peppering his dad with kisses to stare inquisitively at the older man.

When Erik noticed the little boy and smiled his way, that was all the encouragement Chance needed to get a little closer and investigate, wide smile in place as he waved. "Hi!" he said as he stopped just about a foot in front of Erik, staring right up at him.

Erik glanced over at Scott for a second, since the older Chance got, the more it was clear he looked  _exactly_ like his father, before the expression stretched into a genuine, warm smile. "Hello there," he said, leaning forward so he could be closer to Chance's height. "And what's your name?"

"Tance," the little boy said with a winning smile as he inched his way a little closer.

Erik's smile only widened at that; it really was impossible not to smile around such a smiling little boy. "It's very nice to meet you, young man," he said, and Chance just grinned wider. "I'm Erik."

Chance giggled delightedly and then very suddenly dashed off again, leaving Erik still smiling as he glanced over at Scott again, who had been watching the entire exchange with one eyebrow raised. "Congratulations, Mr. Summers," Erik said with a bit of a twinkle in his eye. "Your son is already shaping up to be a delightful young man, I see."

"We certainly think so," Scott replied with a subdued sort of smirk before Chance returned, this time with his sister's hand grasped firmly in his as he pulled her along.

"Say hi," Chance directed his sister, to Erik's obvious delight as the slightly shyer little girl opened and closed one hand his way.

"Hi," Charlie said, and Chance beamed beside her.

Erik's smile became even gentler as he leaned that much closer toward her. "Hello there, young lady," he said in a very kind voice. "And who might you be?"

Charlie looked timidly over at her brother, who was giving her his best 'go on' expression and giggling, so she looked back at Erik. "I Tarly," she said.

Erik looked surprised for a moment, though he didn't let it show too obviously as he introduced himself to the shy little girl, who was half hiding behind her brother and trying to decide if this stranger was worth her interest. Charlie was quickly distracted speaking to her brother in their own babbled twin language, which gave Erik the opportunity to glance over his shoulder with such an open expression, obviously questioning if he'd heard the little girl correctly, that there was no way that Scott could possibly miss it.

"Chance, why don't you and Charlie go play with Spidey for a while? He hasn't played with you yet," Scott suggested, half an eye on Erik as the older man's expression only became more open on hearing Charlie's name.

For a long moment, Erik watched the twins giggling and playing with Spidey, who was of course only too happy to start playing "floor monster" with them. He pretended to roar and chase after them — and their game quickly attracted the attention of Gerry and Dani as well until everyone was involved, including Anton and the Hale kids.

Scott took a seat close by Erik, and there was silence between them for some time as they watched the kids squealing with delight. Finally, without looking Erik's way, Scott said, "We named her Charlotte."

Erik nodded very slowly, as if he was considering this, before he let out a long breath. "It's a fitting name," he said at last in a voice choked with hidden emotion. "And one that, I trust, she will learn the legacy of and preserve well."

"I hope so," Scott agreed quietly, and the two men fell into what could almost be called companionable silence.

Across the room, Clint was watching with a quiet grin as Gerry was playing with the other kids. The little boy was more concerned with trying to make sure that the "floor monster" didn't get to the twins because they were the "littlest" in the group than he was with actually playing the game, so he kept getting caught and tickled by Spidey, though he didn't seem to mind that part much, either, to be honest.

Clint felt tired — and he had every right to feel that way, after the past few weeks — and he hadn't realized just how tired he was until he was no longer playing with Gerry, or helping drop off those kids somewhere safe, or escaping from bases… Now, he just wanted to sleep.

He leaned over and put his head on Natasha's shoulder, and he was a bit surprised when instead of giving him the usual, quiet smile and quickly squeezed hand in response, she outright rearranged herself in a clear invitation to slide down with her and nestle into the couch together. Not that he was complaining.

He lay down with his back against the couch as she turned to face him and pulled his arms around her middle, though she paused in mid-movement at the way he was gasping in a breath when she pulled at his left arm.

She sat up quickly, her gaze raking over him more sharply than before. She raised her hand to very slowly and gently pull back the fabric of Clint's shirt from his neck to stretch over his shoulder so she could see the badly scarred and poorly healed results of his time with the Kree. Her eyes widened the slightest bit, and she ran the very tips of her fingers over his shoulder for a long moment.

"That hit I took — back when they first grabbed me," he tried to explain, his voice obviously subdued as she just watched him with an entirely open expression. "It shattered my shoulder — and it's not like they were that interested in putting it back together."

"Clint," she whispered out, still trailing her fingertips over his skin until he grabbed her hand and held it in his for a moment.

"Hey, it's fine," he told her, lying through his teeth. "I'll just break out the old Ronin suit, right?"

But neither of them had noticed Kate watching from nearby, her eyes slightly narrowed as she saw the attention Natasha was giving Clint's shoulder, and from the look on both of their faces, it wasn't hard for Kate to piece together what had happened. She felt her own throat constricting at the thought of an injury like that, and her expression settled into something a bit more determined as she gently pushed off of Kurt's chest where she had been curled up with a whispered, "I'll be right back."

Kurt helped her get to her feet before she made her way over to Tyler, who was enjoying a little time to himself now that Elin was perfectly content to curl up with both of her parents. And just like that, Kate grabbed hold of his arm and started to tug. "I need to borrow you," she told him.

He turned to her with a look of slight alarm as he warily watched her. "Are you alright?" he asked — and she had to laugh at the concern in his expression.

"No, no,  _I'm_ fine. I just… I think Clint might have skipped over the whole having someone look him over, and his two inmate buddies have healing abilities, so he thinks he can get away with it," Kate explained.

Tyler glanced over at Clint and Natasha and nodded his quick understanding. "Right," he said. "I'll take a look."

"I'll bring him here," Kate said, motioning for Tyler to stay put. "If it's what I think it is, we might need to take him to the back so Gerry doesn't see anything."

Tyler raised both eyebrows high at that but responded with a quiet, "Okay then."

With that, Kate went straight to the, couch where Natasha and Clint were engaged in silent conversation, signing to each other, tucked into a corner together, both looking concerned for each other.

"Clint, I need to borrow you," Kate said, tapping on his arm to get his attention as she said it.

Both Natasha and Clint looked up at her as Clint asked, "What for, Katie Kate?"

"You spent, like, weeks being captured and tortured and who knows what else, so you're  _going_ to talk with my friend the resident doctor," she said in a no-nonsense tone.

"Katie—"

"Are you gonna argue with me, Clint?" she asked, both eyebrows raised and her hands on her hips in a way that only accentuated how far along she was.

Clint glanced over at Natasha, who was smirking despite herself at the predicament he was in, before he let out a breath. "Well, no — I guess I can't fight you on this," he muttered as he extricated himself from behind Natasha and followed Kate back into the kitchen, where Tyler was leaned against the counter with a bottle of root beer as he waited.

"Hey, Hawkeye," Tyler said with an easy smile as he motioned Clint over. "It's good to have you back."

"Good to be back," Clint told him earnestly before he glanced at Kate and let out a sigh. "This is your doctor? C'mon, Katie. Osborn's goons already patched me up good enough to fight. I don't need—"

"Clint." Kate cut him off with the most withering look she could manage, and he fell silent.

"How about I just take a look first?" Tyler offered, extending his hand, though he couldn't help but shoot a smirk Kate's way. "If you really want to stay in the bandages, I'll only fix up the worst stuff and leave the nicks and cuts."

Clint looked at Kate with an obviously over-exaggerated expression of betrayal. "Katie, you're corrupting the kids in this place."

"Just think how awful I'll be when I have my  _own_ ," Kate said, resting her hand easily on her stomach as she jerked her head to indicate to Clint that he should take Tyler's hand.

Clint let out a breath and did exactly that, and the young man's brows furrowed in concentration as he started to scan Clint, a deep frown crossing his face as he did so. When he looked back up at Clint, he tried to start out with, "Your shoulder—"

Clint cut him off with a wave. "Yeah, I know. Docs already told me after the whole Kree thing," he said, though even Tyler could see the desolation behind his easy tone, and he hadn't known Clint for nearly as long as Kate had.

Tyler glanced over at Kate before he frowned a bit deeper and shook his head. "I can try to fix it for you," he offered.

Clint looked him over for a moment. "Yeah?" His tone was equal parts apprehensive and hopeful and had Kate leaning over to put a hand on Clint's arm.

"When we first met, Tyler put my arm back together after it was completely crushed and shattered," she said. "Granted, I hadn't healed up all incorrectly like you have, but he's been able to do some pretty impressive stuff. He can even fix scars and brain damage."

Clint turned toward Tyler with a new look, much more open, half-holding his breath. "Couldn't hurt to try, I guess," he said.

Tyler smiled at that and nodded, though he gestured toward the hall leading back to the rooms they were staying in. "Maybe we should go somewhere a little more private," he suggested. "I can fix you up, but it will probably hurt."

"Yeah, I can tell you from experience that the bones snapping back into place thing? Not fun," Kate put in, and Clint gave her a little look before he softened his expression the slightest bit and sighed out a breath.

"Yeah, don't want Gerry to see that," he said with a little nod, and he followed Kate and Tyler back to Kate's room — though none of them were surprised when Natasha slipped into the room shortly after they entered it and closed the door behind her, sitting in the nearest chair as she watched Tyler with Clint almost possessively.

Tyler motioned for Clint to sit down, and he took the archer's hand again, putting his other hand on Clint's left shoulder. Kate grabbed one of her gloves from the nearby dresser and tossed it to Clint so he could bite down on it in case this was anything like the rough healing she'd endured when she first met Tyler. After all, it probably wouldn't be good for Gerry to hear his dad screaming in the other room after he'd been gone for so long.

Tyler took a good grip on Clint's shoulder and closed his eyes to concentrate, though Kate could tell that something was a little different this time about the healing just from watching the little frown on Tyler's face deepen.

It was definitely working, though. She and Natasha both could see and hear Clint's shoulder snapping back into place as the bones and joints and muscles were healed correctly, but it seemed to be taking longer than it had taken with Kate or with anyone else. Clint was wide-eyed and pale and obviously hurting through the long ordeal, but to his credit, he wasn't screaming either.

Finally, after what seemed like way too long, Tyler sat back, and Clint let out all his breath at once, rolling his shoulder several times and looking absolutely and completely  _relieved_ when he found that he had full range of motion.

" _Thanks_ ," he all but breathed out Tyler's way, though he frowned the slightest when he saw the look the young man was giving him. "You okay?"

Tyler nodded. "Yeah, just a little worn out," he admitted, tipping his head to one side as he seemed to be trying to work something out. "If you'd told me you have some healing abilities, I probably would have asked Henry for help just in case." He smiled sheepishly. "I have a hard time healing healers."

All three of the others in the room stared at Tyler openly. "I… don't have healing abilities," Clint said at last. "I'm just ... you know ... the normal guy on the team. Not a mutant, no alien whatever… unless the Kree did something I don't know about?"

Tyler thought about it for a second. "Maybe," he conceded. "But even if they didn't, I know a healing ability when I run into one." He leaned back in his seat and looked a bit tired. "Lucky for you, it's a minor one. When I try to heal K or Logan, it's like trying to fight the ocean — but for you, it was more like… swimming in a wave pool."

"Oh great," Clint tried to joke. "I got the defective power."

Tyler had to smirk at that as the two women in the room both gave Clint withering looks. "I don't know about that," he said. "But maybe when you get a chance, you should ask Henry or someone to look into it. No matter where you get it from, it's a gift, right?"

Clint shook his head, still obviously in a bit of disbelief as he let out half a laugh. "Yeah, maybe I'll look into it," he said at last. "Can't be much of a healing power, though, considering my track record."

"Well, you get what you get," Tyler said with a small shrug.

"Yeah, no kidding." Clint stood up and rolled his shoulder a few more times, the grin returning as he pulled his arm back in an archer's stance and experimented with a few more poses before he had apparently decided his shoulder was back to good working order and didn't hesitate to celebrate by wrapping Tyler in a warm, grateful hug. "Thanks," he said when he released the young man. "Really. You — you have  _no_ idea."

"I took Kate's archery class for a semester," Tyler said. "And I live in the same house. I might have some idea. But… you're right. I really can't imagine…"

Clint clapped a hand on Tyler's shoulder. "Good thing neither of us have to," he said quietly enough that he wasn't loud enough to drown out the sound of Gerry in the living room loudly asking where his daddy went.

Natasha glanced toward Clint with a small smile. "He's probably anxious about you being gone, all things considered."

"Yeah, what was I thinking leaving his sight?" Clint agreed with a smile to match. He turned to Tyler and pulled him into one more grateful hug before he dashed out of the room to go find his little boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes : Before you ask, the slight healing factor for Clint is our interpretation of some interesting canon comic things. Things like Clint sometimes being affected by power dampeners that make his aim off. We decided that there had to be something the dampener was messing with, but we didn’t want to belittle Clint’s achievements by tying any kind of powers to archery. No supervision, no precognitive abilities, none of that. Instead, we figured a little healing power would explain things. After all, if Clint was hurting, his aim would be affected, right?   
> Besides, this also sets up some things down the line, but those are spoilers ;)


	14. Mags The Builder (Can He Fix It?)

By the time Tyler had finished up with Clint, K had started up dinner, and it was clear that no one was expecting her to do any cooking, of all things. Of course, Elin had refused to be put down and K wasn't too keen on setting her down either, so when Kate stepped into the kitchen, she was a bit surprised to see how easily K was puttering around the kitchen with the little one on her hip.

"I know your thing is pancakes? And usually I do the Swedish kind, but I really felt more like Italian," K said as she smirked at Kate. "You pick the pasta. Sauce will be done in an hour."

Kate just grinned and nodded as she moved toward the pantry. "That sounds fair," she said, then tipped her head at Elin. "You're gonna be so spoiled with the master chef for a mom," she teased.

"I can teach you," K offered.

"Teach me the Swedish things, yeah, that'd be great," Kate said with a wide smile. "But if you think I've been in here for weeks with  _Annie_ and  _Remy_ and haven't learned plenty of cooking…?" She trailed off and laughed.

"I can teach you Italian and Mexican too," she said with a smirk.

"I'm more interested in German things," she said with a smirk to match.

"All sausages and sauerkraut," K said with her nose wrinkled up. "Hard on the nose."

"I live with a group of brimstone-bringing demons. I think my nose can survive just about everything," Kate laughed.

"That's a fine point," she conceded before she readjusted Elin and gave her a little kiss, with a giggle for a response. "So I suppose you need something sweet to finish?"

Kate pointed her gaze at Kurt, who was chatting with Logan nearby. "Yep," she said with a shameless grin.

"So you're not interested in some tiramisu?" K asked with one eyebrow raised. "Coffee- and chocolate-flavored sweets?"

Kate leaned against the counter and put a hand to her heart. "Oh, you've discovered my weakness," she said with a laugh. "I guess I could double-dip in the sweetness. Have some of your desserts before the German chocolate."

"I'm sure you've been missing your morning blueberry muffins," K said with a smirk.

"Very much so," Kate said earnestly. "But... you know, not as much as Jubes was missing hers."

"Yeah, it was mutual," K agreed. "Poor kid."

Kate tipped her head to K very quietly. "Bet you missed your hug magnet too," she said.

"You have no idea. But the fact is that I was more focused on how to make the bad guy's lives hell while I was stuck," K said. "Figured as long as we both were breathing, it would work out. And I knew he wasn't going to just give up. Just had to leave the clues for him."

"Yeah, well, you came close a few times." Kate leaned over and wrapped her up in a side hug for just a moment. "Thanks for saving my mentor and one of my best friends, by the way. Saw the Ronan thing."

"There was no way in hell I was going to let that rotten piece of crap hurt either one of those two," K said with a whisper of a growl.

"Yeah, I love them too," Kate said quietly.

Kate eventually made her way back to Kurt once she'd laid out the pasta, and it was another little while before Noh and Jubilee emerged from Jubilee's little room — and Noh grinned almost immediately on stepping into the living room. "That smells delicious," he said, turning to see who was responsible for the delicious scent. He grinned even wider when he saw that it was K and ran over to where she was. "Can I help you? You have your hands quite full," he offered quickly.

"You can try," K said, though when Noh tried to snuggle Elin, she smiled at him, gave him a  _very_ sloppy baby kiss on the cheek, and then pushed him away.

"Ah, well, she has her favorite with her right now," Noh said philosophically as he let K take Elin back to her hip. He shook his head. "Perhaps I can help with your cooking?"

"Sure," K said with a smile before she directed him on how to make the dessert.

Between the two of them, it wasn't long after that before it was time to dig in, and the larger group than usual didn't quite all fit around Tony's table — so a few people took plates back to the couches in the living room. They'd even set up a little table so the kids could eat together, though since Gerry was absolutely attached to Clint, that was where Clint ended up too, deep in serious conversation with Dani about how she was going to get a new book from the library when she went next time — one with plenty of pictures, of course — to which Clint nodded sagely.

Of course, it didn't escape several people's notice that the three former captives were takings seconds and thirds for dinner — or that K was  _insisting_ on that fact, in her own way, by simply dumping the food on their plates and then zipping off before either could say anything, especially since Clint looked like he might.

But instead of arguing, he just kind of grinned and laughed. "This isn't gonna be an every meal thing, is it? Because I appreciate it, but I think Nat might stop dating me if I blow up like a balloon."

"Nat will help you work it off," K said without missing a beat as she gave the little kids table their desserts.

Natasha was smirking at both of them as she nodded. "I have ideas," she said quietly.

* * *

When dinner was well over with and everyone started to head off to their separate spaces, Erik made a point to thank K for the dinner before he requested she make good on her promise to fill him in on the various bits and pieces of things that he so clearly had missed. What with Scott returning to the X-Men his young family and all of the various relationships, hers with Logan included, the old man had a lot of catching up to do.

His timing was perfect, too, as Elin had finally drifted off halfway through dessert and had no trouble going to her father while K cautiously took a moment to settle into a quiet corner to answer Erik's questions — though Logan certainly didn't look like he liked the idea of her going anywhere with him.

"I'm not entirely sure where to begin," Erik admitted softly. "The makeup of the X-Men itself has changed so much since I've been gone, not to mention all your… interesting interpersonal developments."

"I don't know the history," K admitted. "But I can tell you what I know, which I don't think really amounts to much beyond who's with who and who has trouble outside of the house."

"I'm sure you underestimate yourself," he told her.

She shook her head with a little snicker. "No, I'm pretty sure my experience stops at 'Wolverine's girl'."

"If that's true, then this will indeed be a short conversation. But I somehow doubt it," Erik laughed quietly. "Why don't you start with yourself? I can't say I know much of anything about you or your newly established family beyond your husband."

"Scott found me in a bar," she said with a little smile. "And was driven by an irresistible force to bring me back to New York with him. I've been with the group ever since. Tiny breaks like this little kerfuffle notwithstanding."

Erik had to smile at her storytelling for a moment before he asked, "So Scott was on the team before you arrived?"

"As I understand it, that was actually Fury's doing," K told him. "Or at least, he says it was."

"That… seems incredible," Erik said mildly.

"Yeah, well," K said nodding her head in agreement. "If there's a catch, they haven't found it yet.  _Yet_. And I didn't find anything in his files that suggested any kind of subversion. So... grain of salt, I guess."

Erik had to smirk at that. "And the rest of the team?" he said slowly.

"Scott was married when I met him, Jubilee and Noh were already an item too — and from what I understand, Kurt and Kate have been an item from the word 'go'," she summarized. "The only trouble anyone has really had would be Windsor and Azazel, I think — but it seems like those two are dealing with each other right now."

"Those two alone are enough to cause more trouble than what should be seen in an entire lifetime," Erik said with a small glare and the sharp sparkle of rage in his gaze.

"We haven't seen either since about a week before my daughter was born," she told him gently. "I can't imagine they'll stay gone for too long though with Kate getting as close as she is to having Kristina."

Erik almost couldn't help the smile at the little girl's name. "I have to admit to being surprised.… Miss Bishop was on a team with my grandchildren, and here she is married to Nightcrawler," he said, shaking his head — and K didn't miss that the smile seemed warmer at the mention of his grandkids.

"From what I understand, no one really saw that coming," K said before she tossed her hair over her shoulder. "But it works for them." She looked him over for a moment. "Which ones are yours?"

"The twins. William and Thomas," he said.

K smiled a little at that and nodded. "They're sweet boys. I think we've all adopted them."

His smile widened on hearing it. "It's good to know that they have a strong support system," he told her.

"Scott offered them spots on the team if they want it," K said. "I understand why Billy wants to study under Doc Strange, but …"

"Ah." Erik nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, Thomas takes after my son, I believe. At least as I understand it."

"I'm afraid I don't know him — at least, I don't think I do. Officially." She shrugged a bit. "Professional hazard, I'm afraid."

"Lorna is my youngest," Erik said, gesturing toward the rooms, where Lorna was asleep. "I had twins of my own before Wanda had hers. The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver," he explained.

"Impressive roster of kids."

"As I'm sure will be the case with the young families here," he replied with a warm laugh. "It's good to see such deserving people looking to their own futures and happiness." He leaned forward the slightest bit. "Now, Miss Bishop I know, and the kind Miss Annie has been good enough to introduce herself. But I'm afraid I know next to nothing about Jubilee's husband, except that he was on a team with my grandchildren for a short time."

"That's simple enough," K said. "Kree warrior from another dimension or something. He's a babydoll."

"Simple," he repeated with a little chuckle.

She smiled crookedly and leaned toward him. "Well. As I understand it, the more interesting the quick background is — the more normal they treat it. I'm not gonna fight that tide."

"Well, that can be true," he allowed. He leaned back the slightest bit and seemed to regard her for a moment. "I did notice — and I hope you'll forgive my asking — there was a young man who bears a certain resemblance to Victor Creed whom you entrusted with your daughter."

She nodded with a serious look on her face. "Tyler has had no connection with his father, and to the best of my digging, he seems to be the polar opposite of the man. He's a good kid."

"That simple description alone would make him the opposite of his father," Erik said mildly.

"He never met Victor until he went with me on a field trip of sorts. The man didn't even seem to register that Tyler was there," she told him. "And I think his mother has made a point to instill it in him to not be anything like him. She's one hell of a parent."

"I'd be interested to meet her — if she earns such high praise," Erik said.

"You will, I'm sure," K replied. "She's dating Henry. They're a lovely couple, and they're turning into a charming little family. And seeing as Ty aspires to be a doctor, he really couldn't have a more supportive backing."

Erik looked honestly pleased to hear it — though whether it was because Henry had someone, because Tyler had support, or some combination, he didn't say. "How on earth did you come across Victor Creed's son in the first place?"

"You'd have to ask Kate or Scott. They were the ones to get him," she said. "I wasn't a part of that run, but I believe it was the basic 'kid in trouble'."

"Yes, I imagine the young man has run into his fair share of troubles," Erik said softly. He let out a long breath. "I believe that covers those in this bunker. I don't suppose there are any other new members of the team I haven't met?"

"I don't think so?" K said with a little frown. "But I've been gone for a few weeks, so who knows."

Erik had to smirk at that. "Yes, I know the difference a few weeks makes at times," he said with a chuckle. He leaned forward, this time with a much more serious expression. "Now then. You mentioned Windsor and Azazel…"

She took in a deep breath and nodded as she folded her hands in her lap. "Well, Azazel should be fairly self-explanatory if you know Kurt's family issues. If not, I'm afraid I'll just gloss over it for you."

Erik just nodded with a long sigh. "No, I'm well aware of the history there. I had noticed the marking on Katherine's arm as well — demonic signs are quite distinctive."

"As far as the other one?" K shrugged. "I figured you'd know all about him and his genetic research, considering his obsession with the whole team. He had me locked in there for a while, and there was a string of missing time for months." She shook her head. "And of course the obsession with Scott."

Erik frowned for a moment. "Windsor has focused his attention on Scott?"

She nodded her head. "He's been after him his whole life," K said with a little frown. "Wait. You probably know his 'trying to be creepy' name better — Sinister?"

For a moment, the look of rage was absolutely thunderous, and Erik's eyes flashed before he finally let out a breath. "I wasn't aware they were the same person," he admitted. "But in hindsight…"

"That's my fault," she said. "I've been digging up what I can on him. It's on my mind with that name; I should have used the more familiar one."

"Don't apologize," Erik said firmly. "This explains much about both identities he's held." He still looked angry, and she could feel the slight magnetic pull increase just a bit.

"Oh, I wasn't apologizing," she said with a tiny smirk. "But ... I would appreciate a bit of warning if you're planning to fling me or something."

He looked up at her for a moment before he realized what she was saying. "Then  _I_ should apologize. With your bones, it can't be comfortable to sit this close to me."

"Unsettling," she admitted. "But I've sat with much worse."

"I assure you, I don't plan to use my powers against you except in cases like the one we just encountered. I thought it best to get you out of there quickly," he promised. "And I admit, I had also lost my temper, seeing what they did to those children."

"I appreciated it," K said. "But I've heard the stories too. And I'd be lying if I said I hadn't read a file or two."

"That only means you are careful and intelligent," he told her. "I know my history is against me."

"Join the club."

"It does seem to be almost routine in this particular group," he said, chuckling quietly.

"Some of them are just a bit too clean cut to be fun though, don't you think?" she joked. "Almost gotta hit a few of the darker tones just to have a little experience."

"And yet I'd rather keep those that are still innocent from having those experiences under their belts," he replied seriously.

"That's part of  _our_  experience. They don't need to go through it," she agreed.

He leaned forward and looked, for a moment, very tired as he rested his chin in his hands. "Thank you for humoring me," he said at last.

"Any time," she said honestly. "I'm sure the boys will be looking for you sooner rather than later. I think some of them are more happy to see you then they let on."

"You don't need to lie to me, my dear," he laughed quietly.

"I make it a habit not to, unless I'm being interrogated by someone much more obvious about the interrogation," she replied. "Hill and Osborn could probably tell you a few stories now."

His eyes flashed with that same anger for a moment. "They claim to be protecting the Earth — I've seen them both lead SHIELD, and still they have learned  _nothing_."

"Which, is why they aren't in charge," K agreed. "Don't worry. It doesn't matter if Fury locks them away on the moon. They won't be an issue for long."

"I don't worry over the likes of them," he said with a bit of steel.

"I have the feeling you don't worry over much."

"That was true once," he said, the sharpness leaving his tone in a breath. "But as I get older, I find I worry over my own legacy."

She nodded slowly. "You shouldn't worry about that. If your legacy is in your kids — you did fine."

"I can't claim responsibility for the vast good some of my children and grandchildren have done," he said carefully and thoughtfully.

"Well, then I guess it's time to help those that you can and forget about the past. Noh would tell you you're making a rookie mistake, and there is nothing worse than realizing that a twenty-something punk is right about big picture stuff," she said with a smirk. She stood up and gave him a squeeze on his shoulder. "Don't let them be right. Don't give them the satisfaction," she said at a whisper before she gave him a little smile.

"I assure you, I intend to look to the good I can do going forward. Hopefully, that is no mistake to your Kree friend."

She shrugged as she started to head out of the room toward where Logan and Elin were. "If it is — he's young. He'll get over it."

* * *

Natasha was perfectly and contentedly curled up with Clint. She hadn't been surprised in the least to find that any hideaway of Tony's had plenty of spots where they could get a little privacy, and once she'd managed to steal Clint's attention away from Gerry, she had locked the door and monopolized all of Clint's time.

But the fact of the matter was that they were both exhausted. Clint needed the sleep from everything that he'd been through, especially the speed healing, not to mention the rest of what had happened to necessitate the speed healing. And Natasha, to her own surprise, had more or less collapsed into exhaustion herself as soon as they'd gotten a little reacquainted and she had reassured herself that Clint was alright.

They both slept in, which wasn't that unusual for Clint, at least, though it was for Natasha. And when she did wake up, she found herself not at all interested in getting up from where she was curled in. Instead, she simply readjusted herself as softly as she could so that she didn't risk waking him up and then laid her head back down on his bare chest, listening to his heart and feeling the rise and fall of every breath that meant he was  _alive_ and  _there_ with her.

She hadn't expected to still feel this upset now that Clint was back, if she was honest.

It wasn't like Clint hadn't gotten himself in all sorts of trouble when they were dating.  _All_ of the times they were dating. He seemed to thrive on trouble, as if he wasn't satisfied until he knew that he was in some kind of dire straits.

It was a little different this time, she thought, because the people who had taken him had been so…  _possessive_ about it. As if he could belong to anybody but himself.

She found herself absently resting her hand on his chest as she waited for him to wake up with her. If she was honest, she felt a little possessive herself. Maybe that was part of what was taking so long to come down from.

When he did finally wake up, though, she put aside those thoughts and instead returned the smile he gave her — the broad one that never seemed to fade no matter how many times they shared a bed. "Sleep okay?" he asked.

"Marvelously," she told him with a little smirk.

"Great, because I slept like the  _dead_ ," he said, leaning his head back a little more in the pillows to emphasize the point.

For just a second, Natasha felt her mouth tighten at the corners, even though it was just a joke. "We've probably missed breakfast," she said.

"So what you're telling me is that K's going to stuff me  _even more_ when lunch comes around," he surmised. "Good to know, good to know."

She shook her head at him and decided that the only thing to do with him was to kiss him. Which had always been the case anyway.

* * *

For the most part, it seemed that everyone who had been in on the rescue effort, as well as the former captives, were content to stay in Tony's bunker for a while with their friends and loved ones, though Scott still wanted to know what was going on outside their little world.

He met up with Tony the next evening after everyone had been back for a while and really seemed to be on the way to recovery — not only to check in on the status of the invasion but to start thinking about what they could do going forward.

After all, with both Ronan and Zarek dead, the Kree seemed much less interested in trying to invade the planet and more interested in just getting out of there. Of course, there were still scattered Kree attacks from some of the fanatics, particularly what was left of the Accusers. But for the most part, it seemed that the Kree were simply on their way out.

"SHIELD and SWORD pretty much have everything handled at this point," Tony said as he let Scott look over some of the reports. "Optimistically, I'd say this whole thing will be done in a few days — a week or two at most. But most of that will be Fury and his crew fighting off the ones that are too stupid to leave."

Scott let out a breath and didn't try to pretend not to be relieved to hear it. "They cut the head off the snake," he surmised, and Tony nodded his agreement.

"Pretty sure they're going to be doing the tail between their legs routine for the foreseeable future," he said, leaning back. "Which leaves you and me with cleanup, Summers."

Scott nodded and passed a hand over his face. "And rebuilding," he agreed.

"You need any help on that front?" Tony asked. "I've been thinking about upgrades to the tower, and if you're rebuilding too…"

But Scott shook his head. "We've got our own designers for that," he said with a smirk. "I'm pretty sure after all this, Noh is going to have some ideas for security features. I know he still feels bad about what happened."

Tony shook his head quietly. "Kid has a guilt complex."

"Must be a requirement in our business," Scott said with a very small smirk that had Tony snorting out a laugh despite himself.

"Yeah, well, you should have heard Widow snarling at me when I got within two feet of Clint earlier today," Tony laughed.

"She snarled at you?"

"Not in so many words, but the territorial signs were the same," Tony said. He laughed and shook his head before he leaned back against the wall. "So … you think Noh would be willing to look over our tower designs too? Been trying to get him to give us the Kree upgrade, and after this…"

"You can ask him, but he's pretty particular. He didn't want to give the blueprints to anyone but me, Forge, and Logan once he'd updated them."

"Did he give you the line about how the Earth isn't mature enough for interdimensional technology?"

"Something along those lines," Scott said with a smirk.

Tony rolled his eyes before he grabbed a chair, spun it around, and sat in it. "Right. I'm thinking even if the blueprints are different, we should make a show of solidarity. Let people see that we're all pulling together. Help each other rebuild, even if the finer details don't all get shared," he said with a bit of a laugh. "Probably best to get the mansion up and running sooner than later so those kids of yours have someplace to go in a few months."

Scott looked up in surprise at Tony for a moment before he looked back down at the plans laid out in front of him. The concern Tony was showing for the school, for the kids, for the X-Men… He couldn't take credit entirely for the teammate-swapping he'd set up with Captain America, but he was thanking his every lucky star that they'd decided to try it, if it was going to make alliances like this. He could remember a time when Tony would have hardly batted an eye at hearing the mansion had been once again leveled.

He had to smile to himself at the thought. Peaceful co-existence. Maybe it wasn't as far off as he'd thought.

They had both fallen into deep conversation about when and how to begin reconstruction on the mansion and hadn't noticed that someone new had joined their private chat until Erik cleared his throat. "Perhaps I can help," he offered. "At the very least, I believe I can speed things along."

Scott and Tony glanced at each other before Tony gave Scott a little shrug. "Your call."

Scott nodded quietly before he glanced Erik's way and slid him some of the blueprints. "We at least want to get the student wing up fast so the kids have somewhere to go," he explained.

"I can appreciate the priority," Erik said with a nod as he looked over what they had. He was only just starting to offer a few suggestions on how to better fortify the rebuilt mansion, though, when a panting Tyler came all but skidding into the room.

"Uh — Scott?" His eyes were wide. "Alex sent me to come get you? I think he maybe needs… Um. Lorna says her water burst, and Alex looks like he might pass out, and… I can help Lorna, but I could use someone to deal with him? Please?"

"Is she alright?" Erik asked quickly before Scott could even respond.

Tyler nodded quickly. "She's fine. Really, she's been directing everybody. I just need some help until the bamfs get back with Hank."

"I'll get Alex off your back," Scott promised, though Erik was following behind him and Tyler as they headed to the back room where, as Tyler had said, Lorna was very calmly telling Alex to take a breath. And Alex, for his part, looked like he wasn't sure what to do.

Scott shared a look with Tyler before he grabbed his brother by the arm. "C'mon, Alex. Let's get some fresh air," he said and pulled Alex out of the room. Tyler looked grateful, and Erik settled down beside Lorna looking fretful.

"Don't worry, Daddy," Lorna said with a quiet smile. "Tyler says everything looks fine. You'll be saying hello to your granddaughter any minute now."

But Erik looked a bit dazed before he finally managed a smile. "You'll have to forgive me — I didn't even know she existed until very recently."

Lorna reached over and patted her father's hand with a smile, and a few moments later, Hank arrived with the bamfs, sweeping into the room and only pausing for a moment on seeing Erik there — to his credit as a professional. Tyler, meanwhile, looked entirely relieved to have Hank there, and with a sort of knowing smirk, Hank sent Tyler to go retrieve Alex from wherever Scott had taken him — knowing that even for as freaked out as Alex was, he'd want to be there to greet his little girl.

But by the time Tyler got back with the Summers brothers, Lorna was already done. They were in time to hear the little girl's very first cry and to see the instant melting smile all over Erik's face at the sound before Alex did a pretty good imitation of a melting ice cream cone himself, half hanging onto his brother before Scott got him to a seat so he could meet his little girl.

"She's beautiful, Lorna," Scott said when neither Erik nor Alex seemed ready to talk yet. "What's her name?"

Lorna snuck a quiet smile at her father as she gently laid the little one into Alex's arms. "We decided to call her Magda Roza," she said softly.

Erik turned to face her with his mouth slightly parted, his eyebrows up and his entire body language completely disarmed and surprised before his eyes filled to the brim with tears and he very tenderly leaned over to press a kiss to his daughter's forehead, not even bothering to wipe away the evidence that he was openly weeping.


	15. We Are Gathered Here At A Moment's Notice

With everyone home, safe and sound at last, and with SHIELD and a few others batting cleanup on the last few stubborn pockets of Kree, it was apparent Nate and Hope had done what they set out to do — and they had other places to be.

Not that the rest of their family was happy about it. Especially since Annie had honestly been enjoying getting to know this part of Scott's family outside of a passing introduction at their wedding. It was clear to anyone watching her with them that she had firmly adopted them into the fold, and she was sure to tell them as much.

"You'll be coming by again soon, won't you?" she asked, though it wasn't so much a request as it was a declaration of how things were going to be, and there was no way the two time travelers could miss that fact.

Nate opened his mouth to respond, but Hope beat him to the punch. "I'm sure we will," she said quickly, earning a dry look from Nate.

 _Oh, don't give me that look,_ she said.  _You're absolutely wrapped around your step-siblings' fingers, and it's the best thing I've seen in_ months.

_Oh, so we're coming back for your entertainment?_

_Yes, obviously,_ she replied in a tone that said he really should have seen it coming.  _Keep up._

Nate couldn't help but smirk at that before he made sure to return the warm hug that Annie gave him — shortly before he was tackled by both of the twins, one on either leg.

"No go, Nate!" Chance said, trying to climb up him until Nate really had no choice but to reach down and pick him up. And once he had Chance, there was no other option but to pick up Charlie, too, until he had a twin in each arm giving him baby kisses — all while Hope gave him a look that she didn't even have to project her thoughts to get across.

"We'll be back," Nate said.

 _Really soon,_ Hope added, projecting it to the twins and getting them to giggle like they always did when she'd get in their heads — which they still thought was the coolest thing in the world.

"Pwomise?" Charlie asked, wide-eyed.

"Yeah," Nate said, nodding seriously as he met her gaze. "You'll see us around plenty."

 _You're such a softie,_ Hope projected to him, which earned her another dry look.

It took a bit more cajoling to get the twins to let go again, but when they finally did, Hope suggested to them that they go play with Logan and K, giving Nate the chance to say a quick goodbye to his dad — the two Summers men sharing a quick but warm embrace with very few words spoken outside of a promise that Nate would be back.

"Wouldn't want to disappoint the twins," Nate said with a smirk before he and Hope waved and simply stepped into the usual wash of blue, off to the next crisis in another dimension somewhere.

* * *

It was another few days before the last of the Kree had cleared out — and before they figured it was safe to go back to the mansion, at any rate. Even so, Kate was surprised when they arrived on the grounds to find that it looked… shockingly familiar.

None of the rubble had been cleared, so it still looked exactly as it had when the Kree levelled it, and she could have sworn it was the exact same scene from the sim Logan had used ages ago when she asked him to start training her, right down to the brick wall lying in the middle of the yard.

"Watch your step, Chicken Hawk," Logan teased as he walked past her.

"That's  _not_ my name," she replied with a glare.

"Figure I better work on somethin'," he told her. "Seeing as everyone is solidly in the camp of keeping Clint as Hawkeye now."

"I don't mind sharing and you know it," Kate pointed out, shaking her head. "Especially because it means he's got his shooting arm all in one piece."

"You? Sharing?" Logan said with a raised eyebrow. "If you say so."

Kate rolled her eyes, half-hanging onto Kurt's arm as they picked their way through the rubble of what had been their home, and Kurt gave her a small and encouraging hug and a quick kiss. "Don't worry; we'll rebuild before the students return from their summer holidays," he promised. "Think of it this way — this time, we can expand our room to accomodate a nursery."

She had to smile at that and nodded. "Better make sure that's on the blueprints," she muttered.

"I'm quite sure that with Scott running things, and with Noh in the glow of his newfound fatherhood… nurseries will be well taken care of," he laughed, though they weren't the only ones thinking of the kids' accommodations.

"We probably shouldn't just camp out with the little ones," K said mostly to Logan.

He nodded in agreement and took Elin from her for a moment. "Your place or mine?" he asked with a little smirk.

"Mine, for sure," she said. "The only ones that know about mine are the ones Kurt has teleported there. And there's room if anyone wants to hide." She turned to look at Kate. "You know. Like … if anyone wants to get some peace and quiet. And  _coffee_."

"Well I was gonna say no, but then you threw coffee out there," Kate teased. She let out a breath and rested a hand on her stomach. "And seeing as I'm not exactly helpful for the picking up thing right now…" she added, trailing off with a sheepish grin.

"Jubilee," K called out. "You should probably come where there is peace and food too."

Jubilee turned to face her and made a bit of a face at being once again relegated to the group  _not_ doing things. "Only if I can bring music too," she said at last.

"Naturally," K replied. "And Kurt can bring the guys home at night, right, sweet Elf?"

Kurt nodded with a little grin. "Do try  _not_ to burn the place down while we're gone. You three are trouble alone."

"My house, no worries," K said with a little wave.

"Then shall we go?" Kurt offered. "The three of you can get settled in while we start clearing some of this…" He swept one hand out to indicate the rubble. When everyone seemed to be in agreement, Kurt grinned and, in a quick teleport, he and the bamfs had taken all three couples to the cabin.

"What is this place?" Noh asked curiously as the little bamf that had taken him patted his hair affectionately.

"My house," K said with a little smirk. "Hidden away in the woods, of course."

"Naturally," Noh laughed, his arm snaking around Jubilee's waist as the two of them took in the sights of the little cabin. "It suits you."

"Main floor is mine," K said. "But there are bedrooms upstairs for both of you." She was clearly addressing Noh, because Kate was already headed inside.

"I call the one on the left!" Kate called out with a little giggle.

"Oh that — that's not fair! Unfair advantage!" Jubilee called out as she ran after Kate, which just had Noh laughing as he watched her run off.

"Thank you for allowing us into your home," he told K. "Hopefully we won't be intruding long. I think we can rebuild quickly with all the help we are getting."

"You two are supposed to be family, right? It's your  _right_ to intrude," K said with a little shrug.

Noh beamed at that before he leaned over and gently kissed Elin's forehead. "Take care of my dear little sister while we're gone," he said with a teasing smirk.

"Take care of my sweetheart," she countered with a little growl on her way up to the cottage.

"You know I will," he replied with a laugh.

With that, Kurt put a hand on each other man's shoulder before they quickly teleported out and back to the mansion again, where already Magneto was making quick work of clearing away rubble. Several old X-Men had arrived to help, and Colossus was lifting beams out of the way as they went. Even Laura had come up back with some of the younger versions of the original X-Men, not to mention Gabby. A few Avengers who had arrived to help — Thor and Kamala — were doing some serious heavy lifting as well, even with the scattered bamfs supervising. Some of them were wearing little yellow hardhats and trying to help — though they seemed to be more apt to drop things on each other or someone's foot than to do any actual work until they saw Kurt had shown up.

Noh almost immediately zipped off to start joining in the heavy lifting, taking half a wall in both hands to help Kamala clear what used to be the teacher's wing, and the little bamfs were happily doing what they could, grabbing bits of rubble to teleport them away. Kurt and Logan, on the other hand, had only made it a few steps toward the rubble when someone put a hand on both their shoulders.

"Wait," Natasha said as she pulled on their shoulders to turn them both to face her. She had a strange kind of light in her eyes as she tipped her head at both of them. "I need to borrow you both before we do anything else."

"Something wrong?" Logan asked with a little frown.

"Oh no," she said, shaking her head. She glanced over her shoulder at where the others were working and then pulled them both a bit further away. "No — but I want to borrow you both before anything else can happen. I didn't want to wait."

Kurt and Logan shared a look for a moment as a slow smile spread across both of their faces. "Of course," Kurt said. "Whatever you need." Several little bamfs seemed to have taken it as a cue as they appeared over Kurt's shoulders with wide grins and giggles, ready for whatever trouble Natasha had in mind.

"Thank you," she said. She took a bit of a breath before she started to smile very softly. "I'll need a minister — and a witness. And you two will do nicely."

"Well it's about damn time," Logan muttered.

She shot him a bit of a look. "Don't make me find another witness," she warned, though the threat had absolutely nothing behind it, not when she was already starting to smile outright beyond her usual slight, sly upturned mouth.

"You need a witness or someone to give you away?" Logan had to tease.

She rolled her eyes at that. "I'll  _let_  you walk me down the aisle," she laughed quietly. "Or at least walk me across the top of the skyscraper." She looked toward Kurt. "The one in London. The green birds… trees… I thought it might be just what we needed for a bit of high-up privacy."

"It sounds lovely," Kurt agreed, unable to hide the wide grin.

"You're such a pushover, Tash," Logan muttered with a quiet grin on his face before he pulled her over to kiss her cheek.

She raised an eyebrow at him but didn't rise to the bait, even returning the kiss on his cheek before she nodded to herself. "Well then. All we need is Clint," she said, glancing across the rubble to where Clint was helping to search through some of the remains to try and salvage any personal effects that might have survived.

"I can handle that," Kurt said with a smirk before he simply teleported over to Clint with a smile that without context looked almost menacing. "Might I borrow you for a moment?"

Clint looked up from what he was doing and absently dusted his hands off on the knees of his jeans. "Sure thing," he said. "What do you need?"

"Oh, it's not what  _I_  need," Kurt said with a laugh before he put his hand on Clint's shoulder, and the bamfs did the same with Natasha and Logan. When Clint looked around again, Kurt simply took a few steps away and grinned at him. "You will stand right there."

"O-kay," Clint said, shaking his head with a barely contained smirk as he spotted one of the bamfs holding a cell phone and waving at him beyond Kurt's head. "This one of Katie's ways of messing with me while she's down and out of the game for a bit?"

"Kate has no idea what we're up to today," Kurt promised.

"So you're in the messing with me game on your own now. Guess that's what happens when you marry into the family," Clint laughed.

Kurt chuckled and shook his head. "You're partially right, Hawkeye. And the family keeps getting bigger." He tipped his chin up and looked pointedly past Clint.

Clint turned to follow his gaze and raised both eyebrows high before he let out a heartier laugh when he saw that Logan and Natasha were there too. Natasha was smirking at him something awful, but that wasn't anything new, and he had to shake his head at her. "Kidnapping, Nat? Really?"

"Apparently, I'm impatient," she said, the smirk widening. "And I had access to a teleporter, which really didn't help with my patience." She laid her hand on Logan's arm and waited for Clint to catch up as he started to recognize the way they were all positioned.

He broke into a wide grin. "You know, Tasha, most people  _ask_ before they get married."

"Are you going to say no?"

"No."

"Then shut up and stand there," she replied, the smirk breaking into an honest grin. "And let Nightcrawler tell you when to say 'I do'."

With that, Logan shook his head and gave her a little kiss on the cheek before he stepped off to the side and waited for the show to get rolling.

Because of the spur-of-the-moment nature of everything, Kurt ran through the basic vows, since neither of them had really prepared anything to say, though it was entertaining to watch the smile growing wider and wider on Natasha's face as she threw aside any semblance of pretending not to be exactly where she wanted to be. Clint, of course, still looked equal parts shocked and ecstatic as Natasha seized him by his still rubble-dusted tee shirt and planted a kiss on him as soon as Kurt had finished the quick and informal ceremony.

When the kiss broke, she turned back to Kurt with a wide smile. "Thank you," she said in a slightly more business-like tone. "Thank you for letting me borrow you both for a bit. We can go back to the mansion now."

"Congratulations, Tasha," Logan said before he pulled her into a bear hug. "Don't you think you should go somewhere together that isn't war zone cleanup?"

She laughed quietly. "I don't know if you noticed, but the invasion was worldwide," she said.

"I'm sure the little demons can find you somewhere quiet and hidden away. If you're nice they might even find somewhere with minimal bloodshed," Logan told her quietly.

A couple little bamfs giggled, giving away their hiding places in the trees, and they came half tumbling out of the leaves at the mention of possibly helping — and causing trouble. One of them straightened an imaginary tie under Clint's chin, and the other kissed Nat's cheek before teleporting the newlyweds away — without giving either of them one clue as to their destination.

* * *

The first day of site work at the mansion had been a long one, but when the guys returned to the cabin in the northwoods, Kurt and Logan were flat out grinning in spite of the thick layer of dirt and sweat on both of them when they walked through the door with Noh.

Logan made his way right over to K, and Kurt did the same to Kate, and neither of them paused before they pulled their wives close and kissed them a very warm hello.

"This is not bad at all," K said with a little grin — apparently unbothered by the dirt and sweat.

Kate was grinning too as she reached up to ruffle Kurt's hair — and then some of the fuzz as she shook out a bit of dust and dirt. "I think mine needs a shower," she said.

"I'll take this one into the lake," K said in response. "Cold water will be good for him. Not to mention the company."

Noh didn't quite have the same grin that the other two had, though he was quick to follow their lead in greeting his own wife, but he had to laugh at the two other couples. "I'm surprised — a day's work in the July heat, and they have been looking like  _that_ all day," he said.

"We have good reason," Kurt defended.

"Yeah, not every day you get to see one of your girls get married," Logan said, still grinning like a cheshire cat as he kissed K again.

"Wait —  _who_ got married?" Jubilee demanded, spinning on her heel away from Noh to face the two grinning men with a look that  _clearly_ communicated how much trouble they were in for not letting her in on the secret wedding.

"Tasha," Logan replied before he took Elin from K to toss her in the air. "It was first thing when we got to Westchester."

" _What?_ " Kate looked absolutely flabbergasted. "Wait.  _What_?"

"She wanted a favor, and she wanted it done quickly," Kurt said with a tiny frown. "I was concerned she might talk herself out of it should we have tried to plan anything."

"But ... she married  _my_ Hawkeye!" Kate looked wide-eyed as she tried to process it.

"Pretty sure he's  _her_ Hawkeye," Logan corrected. "Jealous. Shameful."

"Well, he's still my mentor," Kate said a bit grumpily. "Or I mean. He was. Old partner, old mentor —  _come on_."

"Is that all he is? It was a fluke thing, Chicken Hawk," Logan told her. "If it would have been anyone else capable of marryin' 'em, she would've grabbed them. She needed Kurt and a witness."

"And Clint didn't think I'd want to be witness?" She put her hands on her hips as she took a step back, though Kurt's tail was still wrapped tightly around her hips.

"Clint didn't have a say in it," Logan told her. "He didn't know what was happening until she was nearly down the aisle."

"That's dirty," K said with her nose scrunched up. "But I can see how it'd work for her."

"I thought there was an order to these things," Noh agreed. "Wouldn't the groom have been…  _proposed_ to at the very least?"

"Not in this case," Kurt said with a laugh.

Kate still looked a bit annoyed at being left out of the wedding, but she couldn't help but smirk. "That… actually sounds totally like them, though," she had to admit. "What'd he say when he finally figured it out?"

"He was told not to say anything until 'I do'," Logan laughed.

"He didn't seem to have much to say anyhow," Kurt admitted, still grinning. "But I've never seen him grin so wide — not since Jess told him that Gerry was his."

"And I  _missed_ it?" Kate still sounded a bit put-out, but even as she stopped with the hands-on-hips routine and let Kurt pull his arms around her again, one of the bamfs appeared in front of her with a wide grin and a whispered 'bamf' as he handed over the phone and chattered at her quickly until she was laughing outright.

"Of course," she said, reaching out to ruffle the little guy's hair. "I should've known you'd be there to document something this important." She waved the phone in her hand and tapped Kurt on the chest with it. "I'm going to sit down and watch this, and then you're going to take a shower, and if I'm not annoyed with you anymore after I watch the wedding I  _should have gone to_ , I might even join you," she told him low, and he just broke into an impish grin.

"Then you guys can figure out who gets to play with Elin," Logan said as he set her down and pulled K toward the deck. "I'm told I need a swim."

"Oh, that's definitely us," Noh said, scooping up the little girl quickly. "Come on, little sister. Let's go see the stars, and I'll tell you stories about each one."


	16. Overprotective Grandpa

The work on the mansion progressed quickly, and within a few days, everything was already cleared and the foundations were nearly finished as well. Plenty of heroes from several different teams had come to meet up and help, so lunchtime was always interesting, especially as Annie's sister had offered her place for the youngest among them to spend the day — and Annie would bring them up to see the adults and the progress during lunch with water bottles and food for those that were working.

Chance and Charlie were of course favorites of everybody there, especially because they were the smallest but determined to keep up with both their Hale family cousins that came to help as well as Gerry and Dani. They could be seen carrying little water bottles to people, hand in hand, and making sure to watch until whoever they had brought the water to actually  _drank_  their water, as Annie had likely asked them to do.

One of their favorites was Thor, who could always be depended on for piggyback rides and other rowdy games after they delivered their little bottles, though of course, their first visits were always to Scott and Logan, in that order. Once they'd had their fill of dad snuggles, they rushed over with shouts of "Wogan!" to clamor for him to play with them, all but attaching to his legs if he wasn't fast enough to respond.

But to the surprise of several people there, they were also incredibly attached to "Ewik," who was completely and totally enamored with the two of them and gave them nothing short of his full attention every time they came to see him. Anyone who had dealt with him as Magneto couldn't help but be a bit surprised at seeing the two Summers twins cackling with pure glee as he played games with them, even letting them scoot around in the air on low-flying metal discs — though very clearly and securely strapped in so they couldn't possibly get hurt.

Erik was still playing with the little ones when, under the noise of loud squealing laughter, Steve Rogers' comm link directly to Director Fury came to life, and Steve stepped a bit away from the noise of the playing kids before he answered with a quick, "Fury?" He had half an eye on the group of heroes and family members, sure that if Fury was using the direct line, it was bad news.

"I hate to break up the party," Fury started out. "But I need all available heroes ready to fight immediately."

"I thought the Kree were retreating," Steve said with a deep frown — though he was already doing a headcount as to who was available and what they could do.

"They are," Fury said easily. "The problem is that they weren't entirely full of crap when they said the Shi'ar were planning to attack. The invasion fleet is set to arrive within the hour. I'm sorry, but we're not out of the woods on this yet."

Steve let out a long breath, and after a beat, drew himself up, clearly ready to dig in. He hadn't forgotten the Kree's claims that they were 'protecting' the Earth by invading it, but he had hoped… He looked toward the group of little kids playing with the heroes who had come to help rebuild and sighed again. "Right. I'll get everyone prepped here. We'll scramble whoever and whatever we have available." With that, he put away the comm and looked toward the others. A few people had already stopped what they were doing — those with enhanced hearing were already ready to move.

"Tony, can you take the kids somewhere?" Steve asked.

"Kurt can take 'em to the girls," Logan suggested. "Annie too. No one will bother 'em there."

"I thought they were just staying at someone's house," Tony said. "Not exactly top shelf security if it's just suburbia, right?"

"It's  _not_ suburbia," Logan said with an amused sort of expression on his face at Tony's assumption. "The only people that know where it is are there now — and Kurt, Scott, and I." He looked at their disbelieving expressions for a minute. "It's on a lake. That's all I can tell you without bringing down hell."

"Whose place is it, anyway?" Laura cut in — she'd overheard the whole thing, and it wasn't like they were being quiet about it.

"It's K's cabin," Scott said before Logan could answer. "Very tucked away and well hidden."

"Sounds cozy," Gabby said brightly, and Logan couldn't help but give her a little wink at her enthusiasm.

"It is," Kurt agreed with a little smile before he directed the bamfs to get everyone who wasn't a hero to safety — including Scott's family, who went to K's cabin to join in the fun with the girls there.

"You'll get a chance to see it one of these days, I'm sure," Logan said to Gabby when she made her way over to stand by him as the group said their goodbyes to the little ones.

"Chance is going to get so spoiled," Forge told Storm under his breath, and she couldn't help but laugh and nod her agreement at his assessment.

But with the kids squared away, that meant the heroes could get geared up for the new fight — and Tony was the first to notice a distinct absence in the Avengers' numbers that he simply hadn't accounted for, not with how everyone was coming and going from the work site.

"Anyone seen Widow or Hawkeye?" Tony asked suddenly.

"About that," Logan said as he and Kurt shared a look. "They're on their honeymoon. Not to be disturbed."

"Ha ha," Tony said, clearly not believing him.

"I performed the ceremony myself," Kurt said with a nod.

Half of the people present — and close enough to hear — sort of paused on hearing it. Steve was smirking to himself, but Tony still seemed to be in disbelief. "Wait, wait, wait," he said, holding up both hands in front of him. "You mean they actually… you mean they finally… what?"

"He's now Mr. Romanoff," Logan said with a smirk.

"That's an accurate description," Peter chuckled, shaking his head. "Go Mama Spider."

"When did this happen?" Steve asked. He didn't seem quite as shocked as Tony or some of the others — if anything, he looked honestly amused.

"When we started clean up," Logan replied. "That's where we took off to for a little bit there."

"And here we were figuring it was party time at the house you were hiding your ladies at," Tony muttered out, shaking his head.

"We didn't say it wasn't," Kurt replied with a grin.

"It always is," Logan added, smirking crookedly.

"We can come up with appropriate wedding presents later," Steve suggested. "Right now — we have Shi'ar to deal with. Let's make them turn around before it gets to the point we have to call those two from their honeymoon, huh?"

The group as a whole fell into agreement as they gathered up to find out what Fury could tell them before the first wave of invasion came in. The director had decided to leave the helicarrier and come to them so they could see the full force of his annoyance with yet another alien invasion so close on the heels of the first, and it was plain for everyone to see when he stepped off the transport that brought him to the half-finished mansion that he was just  _done_.

"I'll give the Kree this: they weren't lying. At least not entirely. But that's all I can say for 'em," Fury half spit out. "Their advance forces to slow down the Shi'ar didn't do more than give them a bloody nose — they were too tied up here trying to beat us into 'protection' instead of doing their  _jobs_  stopping the Shi'ar."

"How big of a force are we looking at?" Scott asked. "We can give you tips on how to stop them fastest. We've had enough dealings with them."

Fury gave Scott a dry look for a moment before he explained, "It's about the same size as that first fleet of Kree — but SWORD says they're better armed than the Kree."

"Which made their push to take over Earth that much more a waste of their time," Scott muttered to himself.

"How long have we got, Nick?" Logan asked.

"Forty-five minutes, best case scenario," he said frankly.

Logan swore loudly and colorfully, his hands on his hips as he started to pace, with Gabby following suit just because she could.

Steve frowned and turned to Scott. "Anything we have left, let's get it in the air — see if we can convince them it's not worth it to keep coming."

When Scott nodded his agreement, the two team leaders made a quick assessment of what jets and craft they had at their disposal, as well as what heroes were available — and very shortly after that, half of the teams were in the air, with the other half making a rush to defend Earth from the ground if the aerial assault didn't work.

Logan couldn't help but take to the comms to try and inform the less exposed young heroes on how best to quickly dispatch the Shi'ar in detail enough that Noh was even smirking and nodding in grim agreement and anticipation. It was obvious the Kree fighter, too, was itching for this fight — and glad to be fighting back an invasion that wasn't his own people, though he didn't say as much out loud.

The mad rush to get spacebound was how Tony found himself in a Quinjet sitting next to Magneto, of all people. He was still trying to figure out how  _that_ had worked out or if Steve was screwing with him on that point. It was subtle enough and obnoxious enough that it sure  _sounded_ like one of Steve's set ups, anyhow.

He stayed well away from the metal-manipulating mutant, perfectly aware of the fact that he was sitting in a suit that the man could twist and bend to his will without a second thought — and praying the X-Men were right when they said he was on their side.

"You're sure this craft is  _sound_ for space travel?" Erik asked, his expression almost critical as he looked at the way it was put together, then turned with an interested look Tony's way.

Tony blinked for a moment, confused at the insinuation, before he nodded. "Yeah, I've taken it up a few times to fight the Kree, and she hasn't let me down yet," he said, patting the side of the console affectionately.

Erik made an almost amused sort of sound. "I'll admit, I always wondered why the Avengers never tried to come to Avalon," he mused, practically to himself, before he looked out the window at the bits of debris floating in orbit.

"Yeah, believe me — we've already heard the dressing down on that one about a dozen times," Tony muttered nearly as quietly.

Erik turned his way with a smile that might have passed for friendly if Tony didn't know what the guy was capable of. " _Bygones_. You have nothing to fear. Not from me, anyways."

"That's what the X-Men say anyway," Tony said.

"If they, of all people, can trust me even a little, then I'll be sure that trust isn't squandered," he promised.

Tony sort of halfway nodded Erik's way, though he was distracted by the chatter on the comms as the first of the heroes in the sky met up with the Shi'ar forces.

"Thought Fury said this was about the same size fleet as the first Kree wave," Peter shouted in his almost panicked tone from one of the other Quinjets. "This is… it's  _definitely bigger_  than that!"

"He did say they were better armed," Teddy pointed out. "If you're scared, Billy and I can take them out for you," he added, the teasing obvious even over the comms. Almost to illustrate the point, Tony could see the small, maneuverable jet some of the former Young Avengers had borrowed from SHIELD zipping in to engage the Shi'ar, scoring a few hits as they were speedy enough to get in under the radar and start to poke at the fleet.

The others engaged as well, not wanting to leave the younger heroes hanging. "Leave some for the rest of us," America teased as she and Noh zipped in as well — in a borrowed SHIELD craft, since Noh's was still MIA.

"I'm sure there are plenty to go around. No need to squabble over dirty alien craft," Tony replied over the comms as he began his mental calculations on the best method of attack from their vantage point. After a moment, he turned to Erik when it was plain that the best thing he could do was to take advantage of his suit's flight maneuverability and blindside them. "You can fly this thing, right? I mean ... I'm going to have to go out there … "

"The last thing you have to worry about is me  _crashing_ your craft, Mr. Stark," Erik said with a smirk.

Tony spared him a look for a second before his faceplate slammed shut, and he was about to exit the craft when a mayday from the Young Avengers' craft came over the comms — they'd taken a direct hit. No sooner had the mayday come through, though, then the entire jet burst into flames.

Erik was on his feet, staring out the window in both shock and fury, trying to take in what had happened. It was clear he had barely had time to even register the loss — but still somehow enough time to look much more murderous than he had just been — when both he and Tony startled at a sharp popping noise and flash of light… and turned to find the kids from the craft in their cargo area.

" _Somewheresafe somewheresafe somewheresafe_ ," Billy was still chanting with his eyes closed before he peeked one open. He had one hand on Cassie and the other wrapped around Teddy, with Tommy half-clinging to his brother's arm, and all four looked to be terrified and slightly burned — but completely fine otherwise. When Billy saw that they were safe, he let out a long, loud sigh and leaned against Teddy. "That was too close."

Erik looked relieved for a moment, but his expression very suddenly shifted right back to absolutely thunderous. He locked his jaw and, without thinking about, it simply started to levitate as he raised his hands out in front of himself, a sneer on his lips.

Stark had to readjust his stance when the magnetic pull moved him several steps closer to Erik as the ex-supervillain concentrated on the Kree battleship that had fired the shot on the Young Avengers. Tony watched, wide-eyed, as Erik's hand simply closed into a fist — and the entire Shi'ar craft crumpled down into a wad of metal and broken glass.

"Oh, crap," Tony said, his eyebrows up behind his armor, grateful that his expression was hidden; he made a mental note to  _triple-check_ with Scott that this guy really was on their side. "Make a note," he said quietly to his onboard computer in the suit. "I want flight data where applicable on all non-metallic material sources capable of being viable armor."

Erik obviously hadn't heard Tony, or even the awed reactions from the Young Avengers as he continued his focus, moving his attention from one Shi'ar ship to another, and taking advantage of his increased power at this point in the Earth's orbit. It was more effortless for him here as he simply condensed the Shi'ar's fleet down to as small of a mass as the material would allow, one after another, without a word spoken.

Of course, that was fine for Erik, who was hyperfocused on the task at hand, but the rest of the people in Stark's ship had all fallen silent as they watched the master at work. There were consequences, of course — though Erik handled them as they appeared, almost as if the hull beginning to crumple toward him was a nuisance rather than a life threatening situation. Anything that looked structural or compromised the integrity of the hull, Erik patched as quickly as it started to bend.

There was a moment in the chatter of the Shi'ar communications where it was clear they simply didn't know what to do against this new, unseen adversary. They had no way of knowing where the danger was coming from, and their ships seemed to go into a confused sort of flurry as they tried to determined which ship to target — or where else they could turn their attention. At least, those ships that weren't crushed as Magneto picked up his pace, crushing them and flinging them into others — using the destroyed Shi'ar craft as projectiles to tear their ships in half almost as quickly as he was crushing them.

The invasion was over before it really began; the surviving Shi'ar ran back where they'd come from with their tails between their legs. They were clearly in a full and panicked retreat; they didn't know what kind of weapon or defense system they'd run up against. All they knew was that they didn't have a defense for it.

Once it was clear that they were headed the other way, however, the sudden magnetic pull that had begun to crumple the hull of Stark's ship simply … left, and Erik wearily slipped back into his chair.

"That's… uh, that's one way to stop an invasion," Tommy offered.

"Likely would have sped things along with the other one had I known it was going to take you all so  _long_ to get the job done," Erik replied.

"Yeah, that would have been nice," Tommy agreed, almost smirking now that the show was over. "Though to be fair — for me anyway? It feels like even  _longer_."

"Oh?" Erik said with a raised eyebrow. "Then while we're talking about wasted time … Perhaps you can tell me why you've received several invitations from the X-Men to  _join_ their ranks in the interest of the greater good, but yet you continue to  _waste_ your talents?"

Billy gave his brother a  _look_. "Yeah, Tommy. Why is that?"

Tommy looked between the others in the Quinjet quickly and realized that they actually expected an answer before he looked down for a second and scuffed his toe on the floor. "Um…."

"We're in the process of rebuilding Charles' school," Erik said, not waiting for an answer. "I trust you know where that is, at least? Or shall I need to draw you a map?"

"No, I've been there," Tommy said, suddenly aware that he couldn't just run away in  _space_.

"Then you'll have no trouble  _showing up_  once it's reopened its doors," Erik said. "Unless you want me to have to track you down and drag you back by your ear."

Tommy made a face. "You'd have to catch me first."

He turned to smirk at him for a moment with an almost wicked gleam in his eyes. "If you think that I don't know how to catch a speedster, you're sorely mistaken. But if I'm feeling lazy, I'm sure your brother could help me in that department."

Billy grinned at that. "Oh definitely," he agreed, and Tommy looked betrayed.

"Traitor," Tommy muttered toward his brother, which only had the other Young Avengers laughing.

"It's not a  _punishment_ ," Erik insisted without even a touch of heat. "It's important for the two of you to be on the  _right_ side of history as it's written. Not following in my footsteps or standing on the sidelines."

"C'mon, Tommy," Cassie said in a cajoling sort of voice, almost a whisper. "I'm joining the team too."

Erik looked her way, and saw the expression on Tommy's face. He couldn't help but meter his tone for her. "And you'll do beautifully, my dear."

Tommy glanced around at his friends before his gaze found Erik's. "Are you gonna be weird about it if I join the team while you're living there?" he asked outright.

Erik scoffed. "Cyclops is and will remain team leader unless he comes to an agreement with someone else," Erik said in an almost bored tone. "I have no intention or interest in anything but helping to build the team up to where it belongs. I won't even be a part of it unless there's special cause."

Tommy looked around again and seemed to have run out of reasons to say no, so he let out a breath. "Okay, okay, I'll  _try_ the team thing," he half-muttered, holding up both hands in a gesture of defeat that didn't last long when Cassie simply wrapped him up in a hug, complete with a little 'yay!' that had him laughing despite himself.


	17. The Most Dangerous Mutant In The Room

After the incredibly short Shi'ar invasion, it wasn't all that surprising that those who were working to rebuild the mansion — and who later helped with the Avengers Tower — gave Erik a wide berth… with the exception of Tommy, who seemed to have taken a shine to his grandfather since watching him destroy half a fleet of ships single-handedly.

It certainly helped that Erik was doing what he could to encourage Tommy to use his powers, especially as the young man offered his super-speedy help as well as his destructive and explosive abilities in clearing out debris. It was clear Tommy was eating up the attention, despite his protestations to the contrary.

Still, it wasn't long before, slowly, all the heroes who had come together to fight the invasion as well as to do a little rebuilding started to trickle back home. The mansion was basically finished except for personal touches — but those would come later, especially now that the pregnant ladies and the kids were finally allowed to move back in after Noh and Scott had been over the newly-rebuilt security systems. And Kate and Jubilee especially were dying for a project.

In all, it had taken a few weeks to get everything set up, and it was August by the time it really started to feel like home again — right down to the new playroom for the little ones that Scott, Forge, and Noh had designed to be a little kid paradise.

Not everything was replacable, of course, and there were a few losses that caused pause, like Annie's wedding dress, which she had hoped to pass down to Charlie, or Kate's favorite bow, or the copies of Charles Xavier's books — first editions all — that Kate had specially printed for the X-Men.

But despite what they had lost, it seemed that life was starting to return to normal for the residents of the mansion — at last. That morning, Kate was seen at breakfast with a pencil between her teeth and her phone pressed to her ear as she tried to order special edition copies to replace the ones they had lost. Charlie and Chance were playing with the new toys that just about every hero they knew had bought for them to replace the ones they'd lost. Cassie and Tommy were trading jokes as they got ready for a training session with Scott and Logan, who wanted to get them both trained up for when the school year started up so they could be the "senior" members of the junior X-Men — at least in age, anyway. Some of the kids who had actually been at the mansion for a while — like Hisako — would be considered the more "experienced."

And it was obvious that things were getting back to normal when Bobby settled into a seat at the kitchen table and flicked on the news to let it play in the background. It was a little thing, but such a habit for him that he almost didn't even think about it now that they'd only just got the TV set up again. It was almost comforting to have the low hum of news pundits in the background talking about the stock market numbers in the wake of the double alien invasions.

Of course, no one was really paying much attention to the broadcast besides Bobby until the anchor took them to the "top story of the day."

"A ship of obvious alien origin was found in the forest near a private Hawaiian beach early this morning. It's unclear how long the ship has been there, but it doesn't appear to be badly damaged. Authorities are reluctant to say whether or not it is one of the  _many_ Kree ships that were shot out of the sky during the recent invasion, but they are investigating the craft's origins."

"Hey, Noh ... that looks like your ship," Tommy said suddenly.

Noh hadn't been paying attention in the slightest and was instead fussing over Jubilee, who was absolutely miserable. The sped-up gestational period of an other-dimensional Kree pregnancy was doing murder to her appetite as well as to her ability to keep any food down, which meant she was both always hungry and always too nauseous to eat — so she was a frequent visitor to Hank's new labs.

But he looked up when Tommy called his name and then followed his pointing finger to the broadcast, which in fact did show what looked like his ship, though it seemed to be in a de-powered state, half-hidden in the undergrowth of the island jungle.

Noh blinked in surprise. "I thought it was lost," he said slowly, then shook his head. "The Kree took her from me when I was captured... I wonder how she came to be out in the islands."

"Well, whatever happened, you'd better go get it," Bobby suggested, gesturing toward the news footage, which showed authorities tentatively trying to figure out how to break into the ship while the news anchors recounted the atrocities committed by the Kree in their attempt to take over Earth.

"Yes, it seems I should," Noh agreed. He frowned at the footage of the people surrounding his ship before he turned to Kurt. "Do you think you could take me there?" he asked. "It would be simpler if we didn't have to worry about a second craft like a jet. It will only take a moment of your time."

Kurt looked up from where he had been teasing Kate by stealing the pen out of her hand whenever she took it from her mouth to talk on the phone. He had been grinning wider every time when she shot him dirty looks but was unable to say anything while she was speaking with her book supplier. He let Kate snatch the pen back for a kiss as he looked up at Noh and nodded quickly. "Of course," he said, before he pressed a more tender kiss to Kate's forehead and pushed her papers sideways with his tail as she swatted him absently, still working.

"I'll see you all shortly, after I reclaim my ship," Noh told the group before he and Kurt disappeared in a puff of smoke, reappearing slightly removed from where the police were still trying to figure out how to break into Noh's ship.

The two men glanced at each other before they cautiously made their way forward. Noh's ship was pretty well surrounded by both news crews and authorities, and Noh let out a sigh. "Can you teleport us inside the ship?" he asked. "I don't know what we will find there, but it might be the only way."

Kurt nodded. "I can get us inside, but if we teleport in there and try to take off, I have a feeling the police may open fire." He frowned. "They are wary of the Kree right now."

"For good reason," Noh pointed out, then sighed. "Perhaps I can explain to them that it is my ship... though if things go wrong, please, don't hesitate to teleport me out in mid-sentence if you feel it is necessary."

Kurt had to smirk and nod his agreement at that, eyeing the gathering crowd of police, press, and civilians. "I will keep a careful watch."

Noh nodded and ran a hand through his hair quickly before he emerged from the trees with his body language as open and relaxed as he could possibly make it. He approached the man who seemed to be directing the efforts, a police captain, his uniform earning him several hard looks as he did so — not just the obvious Kree design but the X-patches at the shoulders.

He didn't quite make it to the police captain before he was stopped by a few officers with weapons drawn, and he noted with some dismay that the reporters seemed to have caught wind of the fact that something was going on.

"Please — that's my ship," Noh tried to explain, though that had the two officers nearest him on even higher alert.

"What are you still doing here, Kree?" asked one of the officers, and Noh frowned as a murmur rippled through the crowd of onlookers, the word "Kree" muttered from various directions.

"I've lived on this world for years, as well you might know," Noh said, his calm tone masking his irritation. "I have gone by Marvel Boy, Captain Marvel, Protector, Noh-Varr — choose what name you will, but I am not an invader. I have called Earth  _home_ for years now. I'm not an unknown."

But the group of onlookers only seemed to be growing more restless, with shouts of "invader" and "Kree" and other, less-savory things being hurled his way until the police captain finally made his way over.

"What's going on here?" he asked, frowning hard at Noh.

"You have accidentally discovered the ship that was stolen from me when the Kree captured me," Noh explained, still calm but now acutely aware of the nervous humans around him.

"Liar," shouted someone nearby. " _You're_ Kree! They all stick together!"

Noh kept his hands out, palms upturned, but he glanced quickly toward where Kurt was watching. This wasn't going well. "Please," he said openly. "I'm not an invader."

But it was clear Noh wasn't getting anywhere, and he was about to take a step back when there was a familiar  _bamf_ and, an instant later, Noh found himself inside his ship. He glanced over his shoulder to see Kurt there with a slight frown and nodded at the older X-Man. "Thank you," he said earnestly.

"I'm only sorry you couldn't talk to them civilly," Kurt said, still with a frown of his own before the two of them made a quick sweep of the ship to make sure that the Kree who had stolen it hadn't left any nasty surprises behind for them.

Noh walked delicately through the ship and trailed his hand across the hull, murmuring quietly to it as it seemed to come alive at his touch. This was especially true in the engine room, which was nearly dark when he entered it but seemed to light up when he arrived.

"You missed me that much?" he asked in an almost teasing, affectionate tone as Kurt teleported into the room as well.

"Would you like to be left alone?" Kurt teased, and Noh couldn't help but to laugh.

The Kree fighter gestured to the walls around him. "Her records show no sign that the Kree were able to use her. It seems…" He had to smirk the slightest bit. "She arrived here on her own and simply hid where Jubilee and I were meant to be on our anniversary to wait for my return."

"Your ship came here on its own?" Kurt looked entirely amused by the  _Marvel's_ choice of hideout. The anniversary location. Of course.

"Apparently so." Noh chuckled and shook his head as he looked around again. "And what's more, she seemed to be…  _pouting_ would be the best word for it." He patted the side of the door affectionately. "She missed me."

Kurt shook his head with a little amused smile tugging at his expression. "Will you be able to leave?" he asked, looking around the dim room, which was steadily growing brighter and thrumming the slightest. "Your ship is starting to attract more attention. I don't think anyone saw us enter, but it's waking up, and they must have noticed."

"The engines had nearly lost faith entirely," Noh admitted as he looked over a console. "But these are imagination engines — and despite what we have seen outside, I am filled to the brim with possibilities and wonder, my friend. After all, my Jubilee is having a little one in a few months' time. And my ship… I think she knew before I did."

Kurt couldn't help but smile at that. "What makes you say that?"

"She was responding quite…  _enthusiastically_ to my Jubilee flying her when first the invasion began," Noh said with a soft smile, and Kurt broke into a little chuckle.

When they reached the cockpit, however, Noh had to frown as he pulled up a view of the outside — the ship was shielded so that no one could see in for the moment, but he could see that his ship coming to life had, indeed, attracted unwanted attention, even a few weapons.

"How quickly can you take off?" Kurt asked with a frown.

"Fast enough," Noh replied. "I don't want to endanger anyone in the crowd, though."

"Perhaps... is there a way to rev the engines, or whatever the equivalent might be?"

Noh smirked and nodded the slightest as he reached for the controls, and a rippling hum shimmered through the ship. When he turned back to see that Kurt had both eyebrows raised, he explained, "I simply said hello."

Kurt smiled at that for a moment before the police outside the ship demanded that the occupants of the ship cease, desist, and surrender.

Noh sighed and looked over his shoulder at Kurt. "Prepare yourself, my friend," he said. "They  _will_ shoot at us, I'm sure."

Kurt had to agree, and he settled into a seat as Noh opened up the engines and, in a quick move, had them shooting off and away from the curious onlookers, all while the police and a few military personnel tried to shoot them down again.

"Come on," Noh muttered, clearly speaking to his ship. "I'll call our entire old team to have a party in your hold to help you heal if you will please get past these  _ridiculous_ Terrans." And, to Kurt's amusement, the ship seemed to pick up a bit of speed as they sped off over the Pacific Ocean.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Annie and Storm seemed to be working on the same wavelength. Both of them rushed to make sure that the school was still going to be ready to open its doors to students, especially as a few of them started to trickle in well ahead of the school year. They were determined to make sure that things would continue on as usual — and to prove to both their students and the teachers that the kids would be safe at the mansion despite the fact that it had been so recently leveled.

Of course, there was at least one parent who didn't need convincing, and the X-Men had more or less come to expect Daisy to come around to see Hank whenever she got the time to visit with her work schedule. She was especially helpful to have around when Hank had Kate in his labs, as Kate was miserable as she approached the final weeks of her pregnancy.

"How's little Kristina today?" Daisy asked when she arrived, taking in the fact that Kate was lying flat on her back, Kurt's hand in hers. She looked uncomfortable, annoyed, and ready to be  _done_.

"Impatient," Kurt said mildly when Kate didn't seem like she wanted to talk to anyone at the moment. "We had a bit of a false start just now." He was running the hand that wasn't holding Kate's through her hair and seemed to be trying his best to look as sorry as he could for being the cause of her discomfort.

"Oh, I'm sorry. That's no fun," Daisy said honestly as she helped Kate shift over to lay on her left side before she sat down with her.

The younger woman leaned her head back on the pillows behind her and closed her eyes for a moment. "Yeah, no kidding," she muttered out. "She's not even due for a couple more weeks."

"Maybe she's just excited to play with the others in that new playroom," Daisy offered with a little smile. "Henry showed it to me the other day. It's just darling."

"Yes, well, we are trying to make something good of rebuilding," Kurt said, matching her soft smile. "The old plans for the school didn't have nearly as much room to grow small families — and recently, that seems to be a more common theme."

"And you all deserve it," Daisy told him, her warm smile washing over both of them before she reached over to grab Kate's hand and squeeze it. "If you're up to it, I'll see you both later at dinner," she told them, then tipped her head toward Hank, who had a beaming smile and a new shirt. "But I'm going on a walk in the meantime."

"You two have fun. Don't worry your romantic little heads about us," Kate said, a smirk starting at the corners of her mouth at last.

Daisy laughed at that and nodded before she slipped over to where Hank was to slide her arm through his.

Kurt and Kate watched the two of them leave and shared a few knowing smiles before Kurt leaned down to kiss Kate's sweaty forehead. "Are you really feeling better,  _liebchen_?" he asked carefully.

She nodded, even though she looked tired. "Your daughter seems to think this is a rush job," she told him with a fake tone of severity, and he laughed out loud.

" _My_ daughter?" he repeated.

"Yep. I know she didn't get all that get up and go from  _me_."

Kurt chuckled and shook his head at her. "Yes, my love. You're a paragon of patience."

She raised herself up the slightest bit to raise an eyebrow at him. "Are you  _making fun_ of me?" she asked incredulously.

"Only when you say such ridiculous things that I can't help myself," he teased her, though he raised her hand to his lips to very gently kiss her knuckles. "Forgive me; I couldn't resist."

Kate rolled her eyes at him but couldn't help the sparkle of laughter in her eyes before she let out a breath and leaned back. Kurt kept rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand as he watched her, a small frown playing at the corner of his mouth as he watched the expression on her face shift slowly into one a little more like terror.

"Kate?" he prompted when he felt the silence had gone on long enough.

"I am  _so_ not ready for this," she said, almost too quietly for him to hear it.

He frowned at that as he continued to brush a gentle hand through her hair. "And what makes you say that?"

Kate looked at him with an expression that clearly said she thought the answer should have been obvious, but when he just held her gaze, she let out a sigh. "Seriously, Kurt — what the  _heck_ am I supposed to know about raising kids? It's not like I had a stellar example of family matters growing up. I mean, I've played with Scott's and Clint's, but… babysitting is not the same and... " She let out a sigh. "What if I screw this up? There's no take backs!"

"Kate,  _liebling_ , you won't—"

"But what if I  _do_?" Kate looked at him wide-eyed before she seemed all at once to decide that he didn't get it and fell into a pout.

Before she could get herself totally bent out of shape, Jubilee found her way over and slipped in next to her. "Hi," she said with a tired tone. "I was digging through my phone, and I thought … you might want to see this."

"Jubes, I'm not really in the mood," Kate muttered, though it was obvious she didn't really have a say in it.

"Just … watch it before I shove it up your nose," Jubes said with a bit of a snarl to her tone.

Kate blinked at her friend and sighed before she took the phone from Jubilee and pressed 'play' on the video she had queued up. A slow smile started at the corner of her mouth until she was full-on grinning as she watched the compilation of little Katie moments with Kurt from when she had been turned into a four-year-old.

"You … are going to be  _fine_. Stop worrying. It causes wrinkles."

Kate leaned back and let out a long breath. "Yeah. He's gonna be a good dad," she said at last, smiling over at Kurt.

"And you're going to be a great mom too," Jubilee said. "I mean. You raised Noh." She was smirking Kate's way with a troublemaking look in her eyes.

Kate actually snorted out loud and shook her head at her friend. "You know he's older than me, right?"

"That much more impressive," she replied with a wondrous expression. "It's a miracle!"

Kate smirked at Jubilee. "Alright, you — you troublemaker. Thanks for the cheering up," she said, shaking her head.

"I'll expect you to return the favor one of these days," Jubilee said before the smile slipped a bit.

Kate reached out a hand and put it on Jubilee's arm. "Hey ... you need me to return it now?" she asked.

"No. I'm actually pretty good right now," Jubilee said before she forced a tiny smile. "K had some good tricks for the nausea. Now … it's more a matter of not going overboard?"

"Oh, so that's what Noh was talking about when he said you needed 'moderation' or whatever."

"Whatever," she said brushing her hair out of her face.

"Jubilation," Kurt said softly. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Just frustrated," Jubilee replied. "I'm getting tired of everyone telling me what I need. It's making me cranky."

"You know how they are," Kate said with a long and heavy sigh — before she also gave Kurt a playful glare.

"I do. Some are worse than others," Jubilee said with wide eyes toward Kurt. "And some very grumpy, very old best friends of others seem to have more or less learned the lesson."

"Well," Kurt said diplomatically. "He had nine months to learn it from a woman that's just as snarly as he is. Can't the rest of us take that long?" He asked that last part with a bit of a tease to his voice.

"Learn from his mistakes," Jubilee suggested.

"I'm truly sorry if I've been making you upset," Kurt said earnestly. "You both just seem so uncomfortable."

"Stop apologizing to  _me,_ or I'll start throwing whatever's handy at you," Jubilee said as she snuggled in by Kate.

Kurt smiled as he took Kate's hand back in his and raised it to his lips. "My sincerest apologies," he said softly, and Kate smirked.

"You'll have to make it up to me later," she teased.

* * *

Tommy and Cassie both were pretty worn out after both Scott and Logan had put them through their paces in the Danger Room, though they were grinning as they headed for the elevator together. It had been a good run, and Cassie especially was feeling pretty good about herself.

Tommy was a little more frustrated, since he'd been so long out of the hero game that he needed a little more coaching than Cassie did, and the gap between them was clear to see. But it was hard for him to keep up the frustrated expression when Cassie looped her arm through his and gave him a huge smile.

"I'm really glad that you decided to join the team," she told him.

He shrugged at that and barely managed to hold the grin in check. "Hey, when a former supervillain grandfather and a reality-altering brother double-team you, is there any other option besides doing what they tell you to?"

Cassie laughed. "I still don't understand why it took so much pushing for you to get back in the game. I had to practically beg my parents, and now, It's really just that I've moved out and they can't exactly tell me what to do as a grown woman."

"Yeah, I was going to ask you about that," Tommy said, shaking his head as he moved his arm to drape it around her shoulders instead, leaning forward conspiratorially. "You spent all that time after you died being not-allowed in the superhero biz, and then you go to the group that's been labeled terrorists? Are you  _trying_ to give your stepfather heart problems?"

Cassie rolled her eyes at that. "You know and I know that they're not terrorists, and I'm not going to let something that's not true stop me from being on a team."

"Fair point," Tommy nodded.

"Besides, it's sort of nice to be back on a team with our friends," she said. "Kate's here — and I  _really_ want to get to meet her little one. And then you're here, and so's Noh. And I know Teddy and Billy are Avengers, but they come by often enough that it's almost sort of like getting the band back together."

Tommy couldn't help but laugh at that. "Yeah, we'll be on a reunion tour in no time. Playing classics like 'Befriending Kang the Conqueror.'"

Cassie laughed and hit him in the shoulder. "You're ridiculous."

"Always have been," Tommy pointed out, a crooked smile firmly in place.

Cassie shook her head as they got into the elevator and leaned against the wall with her arms crossed before she spoke up again. "Besides," she said slowly, "it feels like something we  _should_ do. We started out as teenage heroes, and here there's a whole new team of the next generation that we could train alongside and help to boost their confidence. Why wouldn't we do that?"

Tommy grinned widely at her. "Gunning for the next Cyclops, aren'tcha?"

Cassie flushed bright red. "No, I—"

But Tommy was already shaking his head. "No, no. Don't deny it. I can see it." The elevator doors dinged open, and he darted out in front of her so that he could frame her in a box with his hands. "Cassie Lang, bringing hope to generations of superheroes."

She moved to hit him in the shoulder again, but he was too quick for her and managed to duck out of the way. "You're so full of it, Tommy!"

"Maybe, maybe," he said, nodding seriously. "But you can't stop me!" With that, he simply disappeared at a run down the hallway, leaving Cassie shaking her head. That much definitely hadn't changed.

Which meant this really was starting to feel familiar. A lot more like being a Young Avenger had felt. And she was glad for that.

* * *

By the time Daisy and Henry got back from their long stroll, the mansion was positively filled with the sounds of two happily screaming Summers kids. They were still completely enamored of Erik, and he was still completely enchanted by both of them.

Charlie had warmed up to him and was even leading her brother in making faces at Erik, giggling madly when they were able to get him to make faces right back as they climbed up onto his lap. It was a bit of a switch for many of the X-Men dealing with Erik when they were so used to him as Magneto — and here he was letting two tiny toddlers crawl all over him and drag him into whatever game they wanted to play that day.

When Chance saw Daisy and Henry, though, he wriggled down from Erik's lap to run over and greet them, though Charlie seemed content where she was. "Hi Bwue. Hi Day-see," he said with an impish grin.

"Hello little one," Daisy sang out as she picked up the little guy. "What are you guys up to today?"

"Silly faces," Chance reported, illustrating his point by scrunching his eyes up and sticking out his tongue. "Ewik silly too."

Daisy grinned over at Erik with the same bubbly smile she always had. "Is that true? Are you keeping them busy for me?"

"I think you'll find it's these two who are keeping  _me_ busy," Erik laughed warmly as Charlie pulled a face for him to laugh at as well.

In truth, Daisy had been watching them all carefully as soon as they'd come in the door, and she'd seen something a little bit off before the kids or Erik had spotted them. She was really only trying to be sure. When Erik started to laugh along with Charlie, Daisy looked up at Hank and gave him a little nod.

"I'll take these little ones upstairs," Daisy offered. "Annie said she'd have fresh chocolate chip cookies." She grinned at the little ones as they erupted into a chorus of giggles, and Charlie quickly hopped down and led the charge for the kitchen.

"They really are delightful," Erik said mildly as he watched the twins run off after Annie's cookies.

"They've brought a new life to this place," Hank agreed as he took a seat next to Erik and drew in a deep breath. "But ... how are you faring these days?" Hank was watching him with a practiced eye, and he knew that Erik  _had_ to know as much.

Erik met his gaze for a long moment before he let out a sigh. "I'm getting old, Doctor McCoy," he said. "It happens even to the best of us, I'm afraid."

"How long has it been since the stroke?" Hank asked. "And did anyone try to correct it?"

Erik only looked disappointed at not being able to hide his symptoms for a moment before he leaned forward, his hands underneath his chin. "It was shortly before Mr. Summers returned to lead the team again," he admitted in a soft voice. "And I'm afraid thus far, nothing has helped to lessen my malady."

"Would you permit me to try something?" Hank asked. "I won't waste your time with a barrage of tests."

Erik leaned back and opened both hands wide. "You are welcome to try," he said.

Hank gave him a tight smile and offered his hand to the older man to stand up. "Let's take this to my office, I think." Erik nodded and motioned for Hank to lead the way.

When they got there, Tyler turned to look up at them in a bit of shock. "Oh, I can leave," Ty said as he started to gather his books. "I was just trying to catch up from all I missed over the summer."

"No, don't leave yet," Hank said as he gestured to Erik. "Have you two been properly introduced?"

"We met briefly when this young man helped my Lorna," Erik said. He smiled warmly at Tyler. "It's good to see you again."

Tyler gave him a friendly smile and nodded his head, though he looked a bit hesitant at seeing the two of them. "Is there something you wanted me for?" he asked as he looked at Hank.

"I'd like to to take a thorough look at Mr. Lensherr," Hank said before he turned to Erik. "Tyler has a rather useful mutation that helps him to find any physical malady — and repair it."

Both of Erik's eyebrows rose. "I've never heard of anything like that," he said before he broke into a bit of a grin. "This new generation truly has astonishing gifts." He sat down rather heavily as his gaze never left the young man. "Will your gift be affected if I am using my own powers during your examination?" he asked lightly. "It's a trifling matter of pride, really — but I have been able to hold myself up on my own with them."

"No, no," Tyler said with an open expression. "If there's a problem, it doesn't matter what you're doing to um … compensate."

Erik looked relieved. "Thank you."

"No problem," Tyler said brightly before he simply got down to work, concentrating hard on the task at hand. He started with a neutral expression on his face that turned slowly into a frown, and then, once he found the problem, he closed his eyes and concentrated harder than he had been before, his head tipped to one side as he worked. It took some time, but it was a fairly obvious difference; even mid-way through, Erik found he was able to use more of his bad side than he had before.

It was another good ten minutes before Tyler finally let out a breath and looked Erik in the face. "Well, I did everything I could. There should be some improvement, but I think any major changes would really only show up after some practice. That's to say, you'll need to rebuild the muscles."

"I can already feel a significant difference," Erik assured him, putting a hand on his shoulder as he looked far more relaxed than he had before. "Thank you. Truly."

Tyler gave him a little sheepish smile and shrugged lightly. "It's what I'm here to do."

"And you have much good to do — much more than helping an old man like me ease his way to the end of his life," Erik said, squeezing Tyler's shoulder for a moment before he let his hand fall.

"I don't know," Tyler said. "Any time I can help someone get along a little better is good. No matter where you are in life.  _I_  think."

"That's an excellent philosophy to have, and the perfect outlook for a young man entering the field of medicine," Erik agreed. He stood carefully, almost experimentally, and although he still looked like he was moving the same way as before — there was much less of a magnetic pull around the master of magnetism. He had made his way nearly to the door before he paused and looked Hank's way. "If you don't mind my asking, doctor — how was it that you were so aptly able to see through my… compensatory measures?" he asked before he gave Tyler a small, grateful smile.

Henry smirked and tipped his head toward Erik. "I think you'll find that it's impossible to keep anything secret for long around here."

Erik had to chuckle at that and nod before he headed back upstairs, fully intending to join the rest of the mansion residents for some of Annie's cooking. But before he made it to the dining room, he passed by K and Elin on their way as well, and he tipped his head at both of them in greeting.

K looked him up and down openly before she tipped her chin up at him. "So what's the story, Mr. Lensherr? You finally decide to quit acting like you can't wait to pull on my metal?"

He looked surprised for a moment before he actually let out a bit of a chuckle. "No, nothing like that," he assured her.

"Then come on, tell me. What gives?" she asked frankly. "I couldn't get within twenty yards without feeling like I had to fight to keep upright. Now … not so much. Have you decided to relax, or did you realize I'm not out to get you?"

He tipped his head at her and looked genuinely apologetic. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," he promised. "That was not my intention. But until recently, it was the only means by which I could... " He paused and seemed to think it over. "Remain upright myself," he admitted at last. "But that delightful young Tyler of yours has quite the gift."

K nodded her head slowly. "What was the trouble?" she asked as she fell into step beside him. "If you don't mind sharing, and now that it's in your rearview mirror."

He sighed. "I'm afraid I'm getting old," he said.

"You and me both," she teased lightly. "Join us while we wait? Logan and Scott should be back soon."

"I'd be glad for the company," he said as he gestured toward the nearest seat.

Bobby was the only other person in the room as they came in to have a seat. Once again, he was watching the latest newscast as the man on screen talked animatedly about the 'incident' in Maui — with fresh footage of Noh and Kurt as they tried to retrieve the ship peacefully.

Elin was snuggling and smiling up at them as the adults half-watched the footage in silence for a while, and the anchors immediately drew up the wrong conclusions. Already, they were starting to point the finger toward the X-Men to try and lay blame for the Kree invasion.

"This …" K let out a heavy sigh and shook her head as Elin resettled herself. "...can't be good."

"No, it can't," Erik agreed, his chin in his hands as he leaned forward and let out a long and weary sigh.

"Can't seem to make it ten years without a major brou-ha-ha," K said quietly before she turned to her little girl and began to lightly tickle her, just to get her to smile. "Less when you figure in these guys."

"Ten years seems an optimistic count by my reckoning," he agreed with something like a smirk. "And since the advent of the 24-hour news cycle and the witch hunts they call investigatory panels…" He let the sentence trail off, though the flash of anger in his eyes was still there.

"I don't know how many actual wars I have left in me," K muttered, and her smile had slipped a little. "These battles are more than enough. But this — it's like they  _want_ a war."

Erik was silent for some time as he watched the broadcast. Finally, carefully, he said as he turned his attention to her and the little one, "We mustn't give them the war they want." But it was clear he was choosing his words with extreme precision, trying hard not to backtrack on his promise to uphold Charles' vision so very soon after he'd given that promise to the X-Men.

"No, of course not," she agreed before she glanced up at him with an open expression. "Never give anyone what they want." She held his gaze for a moment and then began to smirk. "Turn it around on them and make them feel like assholes. Much more fun."

"I think I'll leave that to you," he said, shaking his head and sure that the X-Men would not want  _him_ speaking on their behalf.

"I don't want to see these guys — this team — pulled into the blame game," K said with a little shake of her head. "And it seems like that's all that ever happens." She frowned a bit deeper and turned toward him more fully. "What do you think would happen if the X-Men just ... stopped?"

"After all the work they've done to better this world? I would fear for its future," Erik said with a sigh. "I would hope you aren't thinking of throwing in the towel?"

"No," K said distractedly as Elin pulled on her hair. "I'm just wondering if they have any idea at all. I've seen both sides, and I don't think people  _get it_."

"It's been my experience that most don't understand what they haven't experienced themselves," Erik agreed.

"And there would be extra war criminal charges levelled if anyone were to give them any life experiences." K said casually as she played with Elin and shook her head. "Pity."

Erik gave her a bit of a sideways glance and couldn't help the smirk. "Yes, the consequences of that path are rather… sharp."

She looked up at him with an even more open expression on her features. "I suppose I shouldn't poke the supervillain, eh?"

"Hopefully no longer a villain," he pointed out, though with a twinkle in his eye, he added, "but perhaps still super."

"Well, public opinion says you're probably not even the most villainous evil mutant in the room," K said with a little laugh.

"And do you always put such stock in the opinions of the masses?" he asked, leaning forward slightly and genuinely engaged in the conversation.

"Never," she said with a soft smile. "I just thought I'd put some perspective on it."

He shook his head as the newscast moved on to talking about the cleanup of the invasion and the international outcry over what had happened — including a few measures being debated by several governments to better "keep track" of the mutants

"Here we go again," K said with a sigh before she turned his way again. "Wanna go hide out in the woods? Help me babysit?"

"And leave the rest of the team to the rabble-rousing reporters and government idealogues?" he asked with a single raised eyebrow — though he wasn't entirely surprised by the suggestion, considering who she was married to and the mutation she had. He was, however, surprised that she would ask  _him_ to help with the little one, all things considered.

"I spent weeks away from my baby — protecting these ungrateful, racist idiots," she said. "If they think I was mama bear before, wait for them to try to get between me and my baby or my sweetheart again.  _Heads. Will. Roll_." She finished her sentence with a definite growl.

He tipped his head to the side. "Perhaps you do need some time in the woods with just your small family," he said mildly. "I doubt the execution of the press would do much to further our cause."

"Are you kidding me? They'd throw a parade," she countered.

He chuckled. "I think for the sake of the sanity of everyone else in this mansion, you shouldn't be heard discussing such things with me," he teased lightly. "They'll never be able to sleep again thinking you or I may go rogue — or heaven forbid, work  _together_."

"Didn't think you'd be afraid to simply  _talk_ with little old me," K replied. "We're just spinning old folks yarns anyhow."

He chuckled quietly. "I think if you knew anything of my history — at least the finer details — you would understand my reluctance." He gestured around the room. "I am trying to redefine my legacy, not fall back into old patterns."

"And I'll still likely keep teasing," she admitted with a nod.

"Then you have a taste for danger," he said, still chuckling.

"If you knew my history, you'd know … yes. That's exactly it."

He gestured toward the television, where the reporters were still hung up on discussing the Kree invasion and what had led up to it, what had happened, the ongoing investigations… "I think if these people have their way, we'll all know your history. Yours and the other two who were seen with you in that broadcast."

"Well," K said as she leaned further back in her chair. "I look forward to learning all about it."

"You mean whatever they make up for you — or whatever they find?"

"I mean yes. All of it. There are large gaps, so … it would be nice to know what they find that I couldn't." She turned his way with her eyebrows raised. "If they can find anything I haven't, I  _will_  be impressed. Don't get me wrong. But … this is simply standard operating procedure, as I understand it."

Erik tipped his head her way to study her for a moment before he nodded softly. "That… is my understanding as well, from my own experience."

"So," K said slowly. "anything they come up with will be from dirty politicians looking for a free pass. People in the know that want to distract from whatever else they're up to and whatever crimes they've committed," she reasoned. "Maybe throw me under the bus and save their own skin. Blame a dead boss for their indiscretions. The usual line."

"It's entirely likely," he agreed. "And difficult to combat when you don't remember all of the truth yourself, I'm afraid."

"Ready-made to be highly expensive, lethal, and efficient — but ultimately disposable. Like everything else."

"I hope you don't think of yourself that way," he said with a scrunched up brow.

"Truth hurts sometimes," she replied with a soft smile.

He shook his head at her and leaned forward the slightest bit. "Your focus is entirely wrong, my dear. You're a friend, an ally, a hero, and a mother to those in this school."

"Well, I don't know if I should be appalled or flattered that you're working on my eulogy."

"Let's hope that you give mine far before I give yours," he said with a small shrug, though he couldn't stop the twinkle of laughter just behind his eyes. He let out a sigh and then stood. "But I think I've stolen your time for far too long," he said, indicating the door where Logan and Scott had just arrived from training with Cassie and Tommy. "Thank you for whiling the time with me."

"Anytime," K replied easily as Logan made his way over to reclaim her to his side. He pulled her into a kiss as he picked up Elin, though he didn't let either of them go as Erik headed for the door himself. "I enjoyed talking to someone that wasn't a child," K said just loud enough for Erik to hear. He turned for just a moment, his eyes twinkling as he gave her a little smile a moment before Logan gave her another more involved kiss to draw her attention back to where it belonged.

"You two plannin' an uprising?" Logan teased as Elin attacked the stripe on his shoulder.

"No, just discussing the state of affairs," K promised, though Logan didn't look thrilled in the least at her chatting with Magneto. "I promise, just discussing."

He nodded lightly and stole another quick kiss as the twins came tearing around the corner to run a circle around their legs announcing that dinner was ready, pulling and tugging at K and Logan's legs to get them moving faster.


	18. Dramatic Entrance

The school year was quickly approaching, and almost all the kids had come back from their summer vacations. There was plenty of hustle and bustle around the school, but Kate was just looking forward to getting an ice cream sundae for dessert. She was exhausted after  _watching_ Kurt make dinner with the bamfs, who were being particularly pesky that day.

"Hey, stop that," she directed toward one of the bamfs, who was trying to sneak off with the chocolate sprinkles for himself. He gave her an impish grin and teleported over to hand her the sprinkles, and she shook her head, laughing at him.

A couple of the other bamfs were actually helping out with the washing up, jabbering between themselves as they handed off dishes to each other — while a few others were trying to grab the dishes from their more helpful friends to toss back and forth. Eventually, Kurt teleported off with the worst of the troublemakers when it looked like Annie was gearing up to threaten to turn them into stew, though.

While Annie and Scott were gathering up everything for the dessert, K and Logan were handling the kids — or more to the point, K was snuggling a very sleepy Elin while the little kids were piling on Logan. Chance in particular was delightedly laughing as he 'pinned' Logan, and Charlie was waiting for Chance to help her as Logan tickled her. All was well and good with their little game until Logan decided he'd had enough and wanted to quit — but Chance wasn't having it.

He latched onto Logan around his neck, and laughed even harder when Logan stood up with Chance scrambling to stay on his shoulders. Charlie of course decided that she'd gotten the short end of the stick and wrapped herself around his leg, demanding to be picked up too.

Logan chuckled as he reached down to let her grab onto his arm — which she grabbed onto just as tightly as she'd done with his leg, screaming in laughter when he picked her up and tipped her halfway upside down. The twins were having a blast, and Logan thought he was almost off the hook — until Annie's nieces came running in and attached themselves too.

"Okay, hold on now," he said with a little frown as Leslie Ann and Mary Beth both more or less did exactly as Charlie had done and attached themselves to his legs.

Kate had to laugh as she watched Logan with all four of the kids. "Get 'im, kids," she called out. "Take him down!"

"You're not funny," Logan called back as the girls actually tried to do just that, with Chance laughing maniacally. But Logan couldn't find a way to try to walk away from them without taking a chance at stepping on one of the girls — who were actively trying to knock him down.

"I'm hilarious," Kate insisted, and to accentuate her point, she made a face at Charlie, who stuck her tongue out in return and giggled.

"Wait until it's you with the gaggle of kids trying to … whatever they're trying to do," he said as he frowned at Leslie Ann, who grinned that much wider as she pulled on his arm hard.

"I already have one trying to pull me down," she teased. "And make me drop everything…"

"Yeah, well I have one here … that's half asleep," he said before he looked at Leslie Ann again. "Is that what you're after? You tryin' to pull me down?"

"She said to take you down!" Leslie Ann said with a totally straight face for all of a second before she burst into giggles.

"You always do what she tells you? She's tryin' to get you in trouble, you know."

"But you let Chance and Charlie knock you over, and they're just  _babies_."

"I did not," he replied gruffly, teasing her with a ill-hidden smirk. "You're making up stories, half pint."

"Nu-uh.  _You_ are!" she insisted.

He smirked a little more crookedly and shook his head. "So whatcha gonna do about it?" Logan asked with a little growl that had no heat to it at all.

"Take you down!" Mary Beth supplied for her big sister, who nodded and looked proud.

"You an' what army?" Logan asked as Chance climbed down off of his shoulders.

Leslie Ann looked over at Mary Beth and then grinned. "We could  _so_ do it," she declared.

He leaned down to let Charlie climb off of him before he looked the girls square in the face and somehow managed to keep from laughing. "Bring it, troublemakers."

Shrieking with laughter, both girls practically threw themselves at him in what was obviously their very best attempt to take him down. He caught them both up off of the ground before he peeked over his shoulder to make sure the twins were nowhere near before he took the fall and let them claim their victory. "You're cheatin'," he teased before he started tickling both of them mercilessly, going so far as to drag them back by the ankles if they tried to escape.

"I save you!" Chance declared as he very bravely rushed in to try and rescue his cousins by trying to tickle Logan's sides. But all it really did was get him pulled into it as Logan snatched him up and started tickling him too.

K looked over at Kate as she grinned at the mess of kids trying to take Logan down. "And I count … five kids on the floor. What are you seeing?"

"Three kids, one wannabe dramatic hero, and a hug magnet," Kate said without hesitation.

"Like I said. Five kids."

Kate chuckled and nodded as she reached past K to get the maraschino cherries so she could have her ice cream sundae.

"I wanna see a rematch with Gerry and Dani in the mix," K said with a smirk.

"Dani might tip the scales," Kate pointed out with a grin.

"Kind of the point," she replied.

Kate smirked and pulled open the drawer to grab the ice cream scooper when, very suddenly —

"Ow." She stopped short, her eyes wide, as she put both hands on the counter for a moment and just… " _Ow_."

K turned toward her with a concerned look. "What's going on, lady?"

Kate gritted her teeth, shook her head, and gasped in a breath. "Back feels like ... Flint Ward ran me over again," she said through her teeth.

"Uh-oh," K said as she shot Logan a look and stood to head toward Kate. She reached over with one hand to rub her back for a moment. "I think it's time for Kurt," she said as she gave one of the bamfs a significant look. "As in go. Now."

The little guys dropped whatever they had been doing as a couple of them teleported off to go get Kurt. A couple others rushed over to hover nervously by Kate, and a few more still looked very panicked.

From the floor, Logan took in the scene unfolding and simply stood up with all the kids dangling off of him. "Come on guys; movie time. I'll let you throw Milk Duds at Bobby."

"Oooh. He gives them back to us frozen and then they're like popsicles," Leslie Ann agreed as she willingly let herself — and the others — get shepherded out just before Kurt popped in with an urgent expression on his face.

" _Was ist los_?" he asked K as he ran to give Kate a little support, his eyes wide.

"It's time," K told him. "Logan's got the kids cleared out to watch movies. I'll … supervise them. You two? Good luck. See you on the other side, unless you want me to stick around." She wasn't looking at Kurt in the least as she waited for Kate to decide.

"No, you go ahead. I just—" Kate took a deep breath.

"Yeah," K said with a nod. "Send a demon if you change your mind."

Kate nodded before she reached down to grab Kurt's hand with her own and hold on tight. "I need  _Hank_ ," she said through her teeth as the wide-eyed Elf very quickly nodded and teleported them both down to Hank's lab.

"Henry!" Kurt called out as Kate threatened to break his hand and muttered something that sounded like 'your fault' under her breath when he helped her to sit down.

Hank came around the corner and quickly raised his eyebrows over the edge of his glasses. He very calmly went about looking Kate over, though when he did, he dropped a bit of his outer calm as he simply said, "Oh my stars and garters."

"She's not  _due_ for… she's  _early_ ," Kate said, sounding more annoyed than anything else.

"I'm afraid they tend to make their own schedules," Hank replied calmly as he checked her blood pressure and pulse.

"She is impatient, then," Kurt said with a look somewhere between excitement and terror. "Is everything alright?"

Hank just gave him a look over his glasses as he finished the most preliminary of the check ups. "She doesn't seem to be in distress — outside of nerves," Hank replied. "How long has she been in labor?"

"In labor?" Kurt repeated, surprised, and Kate looked like she might throw something.

"This  _just happened_ ," she hissed out. "I can't — it was like, two minutes ago!"

Hank watched her for a moment and then shook his head. "Then you're progressing quite quickly. You shouldn't be this far into it if it only now started up."

Kurt looked a bit concerned as his tail switched behind him. "Is that... should we worry?"

"I'm afraid I have little to go on when it comes to … well. A part demon," Hank said. "I'll simply have to keep a close eye on you, Kate. Although if you wanted medication, we might want to do that right away."

She shot both of them a bit of a glare. "Yes," she ground out. "Please. Do that now — discussion later."

Hank gave Kurt a look and drew the curtain around her before he very carefully and quickly gave her the pain medication she wanted. Within a few minutes of the medicine hitting her system, Kate was no longer feeling the pain — but the pressure was still there. "I'll be nearby," Hank promised. "Just call if you feel like I'm being too slow to return."

"I'll let you know," she promised with one eyebrow raised.

With Kate a little more relaxed, Kurt slid over to her side and settled in to sit next to her. He reached for her hand with the one she  _hadn't_ been holding before and gently squeezed it, though it was clear he was nervous as well — especially at how fast she was progressing. He looked like he had no idea what to do except to just stay there and fret — which he did.

Kate was clearly blaming Kurt for her discomfort, though it wasn't long before she was also shouting at Hank as well to "get your fuzzy butt over here" when it was clear her little elf was simply  _ready_ to make her debut. Though by the time little Kristina made her grand entrance with high-pitched, squeaky screams, Kate had switched from angry to simply melting as soon as the first little screams started up.

Henry worked quickly to clean the little one up and then very gently laid the tiny, fuzzy baby in Kate's arms. Tiny Kristina had ears that were a bit bigger than she'd quite grown into, pointed at the ends of course, and she clearly had  _no_ control of her tail; it just seemed to be moving all on its own, with no regard for any outside stimulus. And she was  _purple_. A deep, almost royal color, but purple nonetheless.

Kurt beside her was nearly still and breathless, staring with wide eyes at the very small perfect fuzzball. " _Wilkommen in der Welt, Licht meines Lebens_ ," he said very softly as he reached down to play with the fur on the top of her head. She didn't quite have much hair yet to play with, though there was just the hint of a few black wisps there.

And of course, as soon as the first little cries sounded in Hank's lab, another sound joined them — the little bamfs appeared throughout the lab, shyly peeking over the curtains and over the edge of the bed to see the small little elf. A couple of them got brave enough to come closer and investigate, though of course, when one of them got close enough to Kristina, he got a small purple fist in the face.

"That's right, Kristina. Sock it to 'em," Kate said with a smirk as the last of the bamfs showed up — this time with the ferals in tow.

"Are you alright?" K asked, though the concern slipped away and she smirked Kate's way when she saw the little bundle in her arms — and the thrashing tail. "Nevermind. That was awfully quick, Hawkeye."

"Blame her," Kate said, tipping her head at Kristina. "She's impatient."

"Wonder where she gets that from," Logan teased as the two of them made their way closer to say hello.

"From me, I've been told," Kurt said with a small smile as Kate very carefully handed the littlest elf off to him so he could show her off to Logan — though of course, once he was holding Kristina, he broke into the widest smile they'd seen since he and Kate got married.

"She's got your coloring, Kate," K said with a raised eyebrow.

Kate rolled her eyes at K. "You're not funny."

"Well. You should learn to love that; you're going to hear it constantly," she replied.

"Well, purple  _is_ my favorite color," Kate allowed, grinning up at Kurt for a moment.

"Nobody likes purple more than little Katie Bishop," Logan agreed.

"Except possibly little Kristina Wagner," Kurt corrected him. "Seeing as she seems to be wearing it."

"Nah," K said, looking over Kurt's shoulder. "She's gonna love yellow"

Kate made a face. "Why?"

"Why not? It's cheerful," K replied.

"It… doesn't always go very well with purple," Kate pointed out. "You have to get something very pastel-yellow."

"Nope, bright yellow — complementary colors."

"Something like Logan's suit then?" Kate teased.

K nodded with a troublemaking smile. "Exactly that."

"A few minutes old, and already, they are planning her X-Man suit," Kurt said, shaking his head at Logan with a quiet laugh that was much softer than the huge sparkle in his eyes — though that spark quickly died when the group of them saw what was now becoming a familiar vortex forming in the center of the room.

Logan and K both stood in front of the little family, claws ready, both of them prepared to fight the moment they saw Azazel step inside.

But Azazel let out a breath of a laugh as he froze the two ferals in place. "Oh, this isn't the time for fighting — though I assure you, that will come later." With a wide and beaming grin, he headed over to where Kurt was holding Kristina, looking positively delighted at the little purple bundle. "I see the little one has a bit more of my coloring than you did," he said with a small chuckle as the little elf started to make little squeaky noises of protests the closer Azazel got to her.

"Shove off," Kate spit out with a glare, which only had him chuckling that much more as Kurt took a step back, closer to his girls.

"I have a right to see her. There's no doubt she's one of mine, after all, though the color is … disappointing. Closer … but not quite."

"That's where you're wrong — on both counts. She's perfect as she is, and she is  _ours_ ," Kurt replied with a glare as Kristina kept squeaking angrily.

But before Azazel could get any closer, the door to the room burst open, and Noh arrived with one of the bamfs on his shoulder urgently pointing the way—- he looked to have sprinted down at top speed, though whether he was there to see Kristina or if the bamf had told him about the obnoxious visitor wasn't exactly clear.

In a flash, Noh went for the stasis weapon he'd 'liberated' from the Kree when he and Clint went after Zarek. He bared his teeth and let out a low hiss at the demon, freezing him in his tracks — and freeing up the ferals in the process.

"I didn't realize there was such immediate trouble, or I would have been here sooner," Noh said, slightly panting. "I didn't quite understand what my little friend here was trying to say, so I simply prepared for trouble of any kind."

"You are right on time," Kurt told him, letting out a breath of relief and pulling Kristina up into his arms, kissing her forehead and murmuring to her in quiet German to get her to calm down.

Noh couldn't help but smile as he slipped over to where Kurt was and looked over his shoulder at the small little one. "Oh! She is purple."

"Yeah, that's what everyone's gonna be saying when they meet her, apparently," Kate said, shaking her head.

"I meant it as a  _compliment_. She's quite beautiful."

"I meant it as a compliment too, but someone's a little sensitive," K said with a teasing smile.

Kate rolled her eyes at K as Kurt absently patted her hand with his for a moment before he looked toward his frozen father. "Noh, could I trouble you to remove my father?" he asked.

"It's no trouble," Noh assured him. "I believe Scott and I spoke to Fury about a cell for this … creature." As he spoke, he moved to get Azazel out of there, and as he did so, little Kristina was still squeaking out her anger.

"It's alright,  _Prinzessin_ ," Kurt whispered softly to her. "Noh is getting him away from you." He gave Noh a look to speed things along, and in a moment, Noh had removed the annoyingly creepy grandfather.

"Maybe we should go," Logan said as he reached for K to pull her with him.

"No, no, she was scared of Azazel, not you," Kurt reasoned, shaking his head. "You haven't held her yet, Logan — please. She  _is_ your goddaughter."

"You sure about that pick, Elf?" Logan asked with a surprised expression on his face.

"It took him maybe two seconds to make the decision," Kate broke in, smirking. "Nat's godmother."

"Another decision that took only a few seconds," Kurt agreed before he very gently tipped Kristina into Logan's arms while the little one was still a bit squeaky. "Say hello,  _Prinzessin_."

Logan looked up at Kurt for a moment before he gently adjusted the little one in his arms and smirked down at her. "You two did good work on the little Elfling," Logan said before he glanced up at Kurt — just waiting to see the expression on his face.

Kurt's lips parted into an 'o' for just a moment before he had to shake his head and laugh. "How long have you been waiting to use that?"

"Oh, just forever," Logan admitted.

"Well,  _I_ like what Kurt calls her," Kate said with a smirk. "My little princess."

"She doesn't know what she's saying," Logan told the newborn as he leaned against the bed across from Kate where K was sitting. The two little ferals grinned a bit at the little one, and K couldn't help but to brush the back of her index finger down Kristina's cheek.

"She's precious," K said as she leaned on Logan and peeked down at her, smirking as the little one's tail settled down a bit.

One of the bamfs poked his head in to see if the coast was clear, and when the little guy saw that there was no sign of Azazel, he giggled and chattered at Kate, who had to shake her head and laugh. "Yeah, yeah. I know. If I don't feed the wolves soon, they'll come descending." The little guy grinned at her, and Kate leaned back tiredly and waved her hand at him. "When these two are done, why don't you get Nat and Clint, okay?" she asked, and the little guy giggled and saluted her.

"We really should let you two snuggle Squeaky," Logan said as he handed Kristina back to Kurt.

"Scott and Annie will only watch over Elin so long when there's a new baby waiting for the Southern girl seal of approval," K explained before she gave all three of the Wagners a little kiss on the cheek or forehead. "Rest up, guys. You did good."

With that, Logan put his arm around his wife, and the two of them silently headed out of the medical bay, half curled around each other as they went.

Almost as soon as the two little ferals were gone, a couple  _bamfs_ sounded — and Clint and Natasha found themselves in the room as well. Clint broke into a huge grin on realizing what was going on and half tripped over himself to get to where Kate was.

"I thought you weren't due yet!" he said. "You said September."

"Kristina had other plans," Kate said with a small shrug, already looking tired as Kurt shifted the little one in his arms, though she had to chuckle when she looked up at two of the men she loved most in her life looking so  _far gone_ over her little girl. Kurt hadn't been able to stop grinning — or to stop his tail from almost lazily swaying behind him in obvious joy. And Clint… was almost laughing with happiness as Kurt very carefully handed the little one to him.

Clint immediately went into making faces at the tiny elf while Natasha slipped over to where Kate was and very gently squeezed the younger woman's hand in her own. "How are you feeling?"

"Totally wiped," Kate admitted, half leaning into Kurt as he absently wrapped his tail around her arm at the contact, his gaze still on the little one.

"And?" Natasha prompted.

"Pretty darn pleased," Kate added, which had Natasha smiling outright and patting Kate's hand before she slipped over to watch Kristina's big, yellow eyes start to drift closed.

"She's beautiful," Natasha said softly.

"Say hi to your goddaughter," Kate prompted.

Natasha raised a single eyebrow at Kate before she broke into a gentle smile. As Clint made a big deal over  _very carefully_ handing over the little one, it was clear for everyone to see he was already smitten with the little girl. " _Privet malyshka_ ," Natasha whispered so softly it was nearly a coo as she tickled the lazily swinging tail. When Natasha looked up again, her smile was wide. "Well done — both of you."

"We didn't do anything — she is simply a perfect little princess all on her own," Kurt said, his voice slightly rough with pride and affection, and Kate leaned against him again with a contented sigh.

"Good answer," Natasha said with a smirk. She looked down at the tiny elf in her arms and simply started to murmur in Russian at the little one until Kristina drifted off, and by that time, Kate was very nearly asleep as well.

Softly, Natasha made her way over to Kurt to return the darling girl, and she watched with a growing smile as the seasoned X-Man all but melted around his daughter and back into his chair as he stared down at the precious little newborn.

"What did you have to do to get a purple one?" Clint teased, and Kate let out a long sigh and mightily rolled her eyes.

Natasha reached over and lightly smacked Clint in the back of the head before she turned back to Kate. "She's beautiful, of course," she said.

"Of course," said a new voice that came with a flash of light as Billy and the rest of the Young Avengers arrived. "She's yours."

Kate had to laugh when she saw her friends. "Couldn't wait for the baby snuggles?"

"Not even a little bit," Teddy said — though Cassie beat him to the punch getting to Krissy so she could scoop up the little purple girl from Kurt's arms with a bright 'athankyouverymuch' that had Kurt laughing.

The group of Young Avengers wasted no time bouncing the tiny baby from one person to the next, every single one of them making her over in one way or another. America in particular promised her that she'd show her the "right way to make trouble."

Kate couldn't help but smile as she watched all of her friends with her little girl, even though she was fairly exhausted from the whole thing and could feel that tiredness settling around her shoulders despite her best attempts to be in the moment. After all, having a baby was  _hard work_.

Natasha was the one to notice her exhaustion, though, and she plucked Krissy out of Teddy's arms with a no-nonsense look. "Visiting hours are over," she informed the group. "You can see her tomorrow if you're all really that deprived of contact."

For just a second, Teddy looked like he might argue to try and get the baby snuggles back, but the look on Natasha's face was simply not one that anyone could argue with, and he shut his mouth pretty quickly and nodded along. "Alright."

Natasha smirked at him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll deal with these troublemakers," she promised Kurt and Kate. "You two enjoy yourselves."

The two new parents smiled gratefully at Natasha as she herded the group out, leaving Kate and Kut to curl up with their new little one. And for as tired as they were, it wasn't long before all three were passed out asleep.

And only then did a certain god of mischief show up and leave an Asgardian protection charm on their bed stand to watch over them on their first night as a family.

* * *

Translations from German:

" _Was ist los_?" - What is it?

" _Wilkommen in der Welt, Licht meines Lebens_ " - Welcome to the world, light of my life

From Russian:

" _Privet malyshka" -_  hello, baby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that does it for this one! We sincerely hope that you have enjoyed this one and hope you return to see the next installment: 'New Teams, Old Problems'.


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